I Am All Of Me
by Parasite X12
Summary: What if Sonic had died during the battle against the Final Hazard during the events of Sonic Adventure 2? A heroic act of self sacrifice that leads Shadow to fulfill the legacy of Maria and Sonic. Protecting the world from anybody who ever intended to harm it. But they always say that the Blue Blur never stays down for long
1. Chapter 1

I Am All Of Me

Description: What if Sonic had died during the battle against the Final Hazard during the events of Sonic Adventure 2? A heroic act of self sacrifice had lead Shadow to fulfil the legacy of Maria and Sonic. Protecting the world from anybody who ever intended to harm it. To many of Sonic's friends it was often said that what had happened on the ARK would be best left forgotten. But nothing ever goes the way you planned it.

Chapter 1: Promise

"Did you really think you had a chance?" remarked the Blue Hedgehog cockily as he dealt a fatal blow to the Final Hazard's exposed growths. The beast let out a anguished roar as the Ultimate Life Form Prototype breathed its last, the life support systems that sustained the creature's existence now deactivating as the device on the reptile's back had ceased its luminescent glow and began to weaken as the Space Colony ARK entered Earth's atmosphere.

Sonic and Shadow watched as the creature began to disintegrate as chunks of its flesh began separating itself from the ARK and burning up upon re-entry. "Sonic, our efforts weren't enough. The ARK still within range of Earth's gravitational pull" Shadow said in his usual stoic tone reflecting a hint of unease as the ARK began to become engulfed in a fiery trail. "Don't sweat it Shadow we've got this" Sonic remarked with a reassuring grin filling the Black Hedgehog with a sense of confidence that Shadow had only ever seen in Maria before what had transpired over the last few days.

From Dr Eggman awakening him after his 50 year slumber to gathering the Chaos Emeralds all Shadow had on his mind at that point was fulfilling Gerald Robotnik's plan for human annihilation and avenging Maria's death. But all that changed the moment he met Sonic The Hedgehog. The blue hedgehog had Shadow evenly matched in skills. Not only was Sonic persistent in his incessant need to protect a world that persecutes the innocent but his entire personality was puzzling. 'What you see is what ya get, a guy that loves adventure and has a need for speed. I'm Sonic The Hedgehog'.

Those words resonated within Shadow's mind as he flew towards the Space Colony ARK preparing to save not only Sonic's friends aboard the ARK but the human race. Blasting his way towards the Space Colony Shadow turned to Sonic as he began charging up a sphere of Chaos Energy, focusing all the power he had using his super form to teleport the Space Station from Earth's gravitational pull and back to the original position. Pooling in his Chaos Energy in combination with Sonic's Shadow felt himself weaken. It was becoming harder to maintain his super-form, the battle with the Biohazard had taken it out of the Ultimate Life Form.

But Sonic? he seemed to have boundless energy **"(I think I know who the Ultimate Life Form is, it might be you Sonic)"** Shadow thought while he and the Blue Hedgehog flew at full speed towards the Space Colony ARK.

It was in this moment that Shadow recalled every one that he was willing to fight for 'Shadow, I beg of you, please do it for me, for all the people on that planet'

'Some people may be selfish like the professor said, but they're basically good just as long as they never give up on their wishes, they always have a reason to be happy' "NOW SHADOW!" Sonic shouted with Shadow nodding an affirmative response ready to unleash their combined Chaos Control.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" exclaimed the two Hedgehogs as they blasted a ball of Chaos Energy towards the Space Colony ARK, engulfing the Space Station in a sphere of light with the two Hedgehog's absorbed within as the Space Station disappeared from the Earth's atmosphere. Opening his eyes into a white void Shadow looked around to see only himself, Sonic and the Space Colony Ark frozen in a dimension where the laws of Space and Time no longer existed. "Have we failed? Is this… death?" Shadow asked himself as his mind began racing with the possibility that he and Sonic may have been too late in saving the Earth and that this was his punishment for trying to destroy the planet Maria loved so much. "No way, we must be stuck in some kinda space time warp because of our combined Chaos Control" Sonic said as he floated around the void giving the Space Colony a closer examination as he flew in closer to the Central Control Room noticing that his Friends alongside Dr Eggman and Rouge The Bat were stuck in some kind of stasis, no doubt a consequence of the Chaos Control he and Shadow had created.

"Then that begs the question as to what this place is if we haven't completely stopped the Space Colony ARK from impacting into the Earth yet?" Shadow asked before Sonic flew back towards the Black Hedgehog. "Well I'm no expert on Chaos Control but I think maybe because we both used Chaos Control at the same time it might've caused some kinda weird time freeze thing since we might've been trying to warp it between to places in space" Sonic said mentally chuckling at how a little bit of Tails's genius had rubbed off on him.

"That's a possibility" Shadow answered before he felt a burning sensation in his muscles knowing that his super form wasn't going to last at this rate. "Sonic our super forms are not going to sustain themselves for long and I'm certain that it would also encompass our temporal stasis via Chaos Control" Shadow spoke with Sonic giving an affirming nod. **"(I have to do it… for you Maria… and Amy)"** Shadow thought as he recalled his promise to the Pink Hedgehog while he began reaching for his Inhibitor Rings attached to his wrists. "Shadow what are you doing!?" Sonic exclaimed as he grabbed Shadow's hands from taking off the inhibitor rings "Sonic… I have to do this" Shadow replied melancholically knowing that only death through his sacrifice could atone the sins he committed against humanity.

"I can't let you do that Shadow, not like this, not after everything that's happened" Sonic said in a desperate tone very much seeming like the antithesis of the happy go lucky hedgehog Shadow had once known about the Blue Hedgehog. "It's what I deserve Sonic, this is my atonement for my crimes" Shadow spoke solemnly only for Sonic to do something Shadow had never expected him to do. "Shadow stop acting like you need to die in order to set things right! You're more than anybody deserves a chance at happiness, wouldn't that be what Maria wanted?" Sonic shouted before Shadow gave him a look of shock surprised that Sonic of all people would try and defend his actions. "I don't understand you Sonic, why would you go out of your way to help someone who doesn't deserve it?" Shadow queried so firmly rooted in his damnation. "I might not have ever experienced the pain you have gone through Shadow but you can't let your past control you forever, if you let that pain get to you then that means that your inner demons will win" Sonic explained sounding as if he knew exactly what Shadow felt in that moment in time, "Sonic?" Shadow spoke softly wondering if the cheerful Hedgehog and the melancholic soul in front of him were one in the same.

"Shadow, promise me that when you get back to the Colony you'll go back to Earth with Tails and the others and live your life to the fullest, you've lived a terrible life and I think you're entitled to some happiness for once" Sonic said with a sad smile on his face. "That's out of the question, I must do this to protect the planet" Shadow stated firmly as he reached for his inhibitor rings, "Shadow your Super form is barely maintaining itself, and if you use Chaos Control you're going to die" Sonic responded hating how Shadow was so willing to throw anything good that could ever happen in his life. "Just head back to the Central Control Room and I'll warp the ARK away from Earth's atmosphere, besides I've got more experience with my Super form than you have" Sonic stated in a firm tone as he knew full well what this would mean if he took Shadow's place.

"And Shadow… No matter what happens to you just know that not only Maria, but I'll be proud of anything you do to help people" Sonic said before he launched a Chaos Spear into Shadow's abdomen, sending him flying backwards, "NO WAIT!" Shadow shouted as he attempted to recover and stop Sonic from sacrificing his life purely for Shadow's own life. "I'm sorry it had to end like this guys…" Sonic said sadly before he rushed towards the Space Colony ARK. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

The white void soon faded from existence as the black star twinkled area had returned to Sonic's eyes noting that the flow of time had been restored and with the ARK no longer in sight had proven that the Chaos Control warp had been successful. "Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Shadow. Heh… even Eggman, Sayonara guys…" Sonic spoke as he closed his eyes and grinned a sad smile as his super-form had dissipated and that his fate would be sealed by burning up in Earth's atmosphere.

A lone shooting star shot by the Earth as the planet's inhabitants cheered for the two Hedgehogs who bravely fought to save the planet. Couples embraced, World Leaders let out a relieved sigh and the world was fraught with celebration for their continued existence. The Space Colony ARK on the other hand was filled with tension from the group inside, wondering on whether or not Sonic and Shadow were okay after defeating the Biolizard. The pressure seal on the electronic door released as the blast door opened slowly as both Team Sonic and Eggman looked towards the entry with anticipation, all with varying looks of anxiety on their faces as the group looked upon the figure standing on the other side of the door.

"Shadow you're okay!" Amy said as she hugged the Black Hedgehog tightly happy that Shadow was able to overcome his nihilistic beliefs and save the world just as he promised her. Returning the Pink Hedgehog's warm sentiments Shadow hugged back but knew the inevitable question was coming no matter how long he stalled for time. With a heavy sigh Shadow explained what had transpired during the battle with the Biolizard and how Sonic bravely sacrificed himself for the good of the world and it's people.

The Central Control Room fell dead silent as everybody, Eggman included were gobsmacked with absolute shock and sadness over the death of Sonic The Hedgehog.

Tails thought that Sonic would be around forever. Even though he had learned to fight his own battles and become independent just a year prior he always thought that Sonic would be right there with him to encourage him similar to how an older brother praises their sibling in a warm yet cocky demeanour. His best friend and older brother figure was now just… gone.

Knuckles could remember his first encounter with the blue blur right back when he had attacked and taken back the Chaos Emeralds which once circled the Master Emerald. From an invader who sought to steal the Master Emerald and destroy Angel Island to a close ally and friendly rival who teased his gullible shortcomings. But when it truly came down to it Knuckles above all else considered Sonic The Hedgehog his friend.

Silent tears soaked into Shadow's fur as Amy wept for the loss of her first crush. Not a day went by since she looked upon her tarot cards and saw that she would someday encounter a "Blue Hero". Though true Amy had heard stories of this Sonic The Hedgehog on news reports on Television and by visions held by her mystic parents Amy fell in love with the blue blur the moment she saw him. And she would never forget the day she met him on Little Planet. And yet the rose Amy had always held for Sonic had finally wilted

While never actually meeting Sonic until now Rouge had always held respect for Sonic's ideals and what he stood for. Always on the run, never tied down and free to do as he wished. Even prior to joining G.U.N as an Agent the bat had indeed been curious as to what blue boy's intentions were, if he was the world renown hero he claimed he was? or if he was nothing but a criminal like her. Ultimately it was Sonic's heroism that had Rouge inclined to aid G.U.N even despite her love of jewels.

Shadow's thoughts dwelled on how much Sonic had changed him. Before all of this his mind was consumed with grief and anger towards the humans for killing Maria, the only one who never saw him as a weapon or experiment to be probed and examined as if he was an object rather than a living being. But Sonic just like Maria showed him that there was something more to life than the intended purpose the United Federation had wanted him for. Sonic in the brief instance that Shadow knew him had given him the one thing that was greater than the purpose he was designed for.

Freedom.

And finally it came down to Dr Eggman. The one man who knew Sonic The Longest out of everybody standing in the room. When Ivo had first met the blue hedgehog he wanted nothing more than to see him dead. But now… now that he finally achieved his goal in killing Sonic, Eggman felt at a loss for what to do with himself. True he did wish to finally conquer the world and construct Eggmanland like he had always dreamed of but… Eggman couldn't shake the emptiness he felt inside. Sonic was such a big part of his life for the past few years he'd almost forgotten what it was like to have no true enemy to fight.

 **"(Farewell Sonic… Forever)"** thought the machinist as he quickly took his leave from the group to gather his thoughts.

Ordinarily Tails would've jumped at the chance to stop him and have a chuckling Sonic tell him that they would totally stick it to that Egghead before giving him a wink and then running after him at super sonic speeds. But everyone was in no mood to go after Eggman, not even he seemed to be in the mood for his typical evil schemes. Everybody just stared out into space, watching as the Earth lived on for another day thanks to Sonic.

"I can't believe he's gone" Knuckles spoke breaking the deafening silence that encompassed the room. "He knew this would happen" Tails stated as he looked as if he would break down and cry at any moment. "What do you mean?" Knuckles asked as he tended to the young fox, "When Amy was captured by Eggman before he tried to fire the Eclipse Cannon before he was shot out into space he told me that he was counting on me." explained the Kitsune as he recalled the painful memories that became all too real shortly after he saved himself from death that time. "I think Sonic knew that one day he might die saving the planet so he prepared me to take responsibility and be the hero that I looked up to" continued the fox as he began to make a promise to himself that he would fulfill that promise Sonic had asked of him.

Shadow had continued looking out into the depths of space as his mind wondered about how powerful Sonic truly was. "Could he have really been the Ultimate…?" Shadow said to himself lost in his thoughts before dispelling them after he saw Amy approach him. "What's the matter Shadow?" Amy asked concerned for the Ultimate Life Form's wellbeing even despite her earlier sadness. "Don't worry about me, just remembering a promise that I'll make sure to keep" replied the Ultimate Life Form as he turned to face the Pink Hedgehog looking upon her sorrowed expression. "You know, Sonic wouldn't want you to shed tears for him, can you tell me why?" Shadow asked conveying a supportive tone "Because Sonic would always say something encouraging and make everybody feel better no matter what happens" Amy answered with a saddened smile as she pictured Sonic giving his trademark grin alongside a thumbs up often used whenever he attempted to lift up the atmosphere.

"Right" Shadow said in his soft spoken manner feeling happy that he could cheer up those around him. It was an emotion that Shadow found significant enjoyment out of in his short lifetime. Though it was true he lacked experience in such matters with only Maria to really teach him what and how these emotions felt Shadow with the new life bestowed upon him by Sonic's sacrifice would take great pleasure in exploring such positive feelings that the Blue Hedgehog seemed to express in such extroversion.

When the time came for the group to enter the shuttle and return to Earth Shadow looked into the Central Control Room of the Space Colony ARK for one last time as the lights dimmed into an ambient emerald green colour due to the computer systems and emergency lighting that illuminated the place creating a sombre atmosphere only enhanced by the beauty of the Earth's cerulean glow.

"Sayonara, Sonic The Hedgehog" Shadow said before exiting the Control Room with the automatic door closing behind him in the hopes that Sonic's death would never be remembered in vain and in thanks that like Maria Sonic had shown him the light as it were and will continue to protect the Earth just as the two of them would have wanted them to.


	2. Chapter 2

I Am All of Me

Chapter 2: Aftermath

The faint whirr of the elevator descending into the G.U.N base in Central City did little to ease the pain Miles 'Tails' Prower felt over the loss of his best friend. But Tails wasn't alone, Shadow had decided to accompany him.

"I have somebody I must make amends with" Shadow replied answering Tails's query as to why he came along with him.

Arriving at the command centre of the base the elevator doors opened to hallway leading into an airlock door. And behind that door Shadow maintained a vacant expression knowing what was to come.

xXx

G.U.N Commander Abraham Towers stood amongst a room of monitors displaying security footage and data. Basked in the emerald green glow of the computer monitors even as he stood upon the enclosed room above the Command Center, holding his ever present grimace as his mind dwelled on the Space Colony ARK incident that had happened only few hours ago.

No matter how determined or hopeful the G.U.N Commander was about the people of the Earth human, anthro or otherwise he could never deny that this world was cruel. Why is it that good, heroic people like Maria, Sonic and his family all suddenly die and the vile twisted creatures like that of the Ultimate Life Form still live? It sickened him to the core knowing that the Black Hedgehog who was responsible for the deaths of so many innocents was being hailed as a hero by the public who were all too oblivious to the danger that Shadow presented to them.

If only they knew what happened that day aboard the ARK. The blaring alarms, the experiments running amok, causing chaos and destruction, the bloodshed.

A young Abraham Towers saw all of this at the young age of six, seeing it all happen in front of him, his mother killed by those Artificial Chaos creatures, his father destroyed alongside the Blue Falcon vehicle he was piloting And finally running towards Maria's lifeless corpse as something ejected from the Space Colony. Never will he forget holding her cold hands as she stared lifelessly to the floor, bleeding out from her abdomen, expressionless now that she had felt death's embrace.

And it was all Shadow's fault.

Abraham knew what he saw. That maniacal bastard Gerald conspiring with that thing, the Black Creature as it paved the way for the creation of that abomination Shadow The Hedgehog. Shadow should've been the one to die during the battle today, not Sonic.

But still he lived, and now he was coming to the Military base alongside Miles Prower.

Coming to his death.

xXx

The airlock seal on the door released and opened to reveal Tails and Shadow standing behind it. Grimacing slightly the G.U,N Commander turned to face the two Anthros, his finger primed on the trigger of his pistol gripped in his hands aimed directly at the black Hedgehog.

"SIR! RELAX HE'S ON OUR SIDE!" Tails exclaimed as he stepped in front of Shadow, shielding him from the bullet's trajectory. Reminding himself of what happened to Maria all those years ago Shadow decided that Tails couldn't suffer the same fate if the G.U.N Commander was angry enough to kill Tails just to obtain his revenge.

"Tails stand back, this isn't your fight, just leave the two of us be for a while. We have some things to sort out" Shadow spoke placing his hand on the young fox's shoulder before the G.U.N Commander requested Tails leave the room. God knows he didn't need to see another death on the same day his best friend died.

"You have no idea how much destruction you have caused to so many people, I'll be doing them a favour in destroying you Shadow" spat the G.U.N Commander shortly after the door was shut and sealed behind them so that no interruptions could be made to the two ARK survivors.

"I understand your hatred for me Abraham, but believe me when I say that Maria would never have wanted either of us to go down the path of revenge" Shadow stated melancholically hoping that the G.U.N Commander would listen to reason after being consumed by hate for so long.

"DON'T YOU EVER MENTION HER NAME AGAIN YOU MONSTER!" shouted the G.U.N Commander as he fired three shots form his pistol only for Shadow to quickly evade them with incredible speed. "HOLD STILL YOU DEVIL!" added the Commander only for Shadow to intercept the pistol's aim by grabbing the gun's barrel with a tight grip, pulling it away from the G.U.N Commander's hand.

"Stop, if we are to ever settle our differences we must settle them with words, not violence, And you and I both know that we've seen more than enough of that in our lives" Shadow spoke trying to maintain a civil discussion with no hint of anger in his voice.

"What's there to understand? Because of YOU I lost EVERYTHING I ever loved!" the G.U.N Commander snapped causing Shadow's expression to dim as he had to answer for his crimes while trying to make things better for the future.

"I know…" Shadow stated trailing off at the end, saddened that so much destruction had come from his creation.

Unexpectant of Shadow's answer the G.U.N Commander paused for a moment sure that the Hedgehog would desperately try to justify its existence to prove that it wasn't an evil creature that was hellbent on destruction.

"Then you know why you must be destroyed" stated the G.U.N Commander firmly albeit a little less secure in tone than he was previously. His thoughts were beginning to betray him, could Shadow possibly be as compassionate enough to seek atonement for his crimes?

"If that is what I must do to atone for my crimes against you and the victims aboard the ARK then so be it" Shadow said softly, "Only so long as it can disperse the anger and sorrow you feel on the inside" added the Black Hedgehog resulting in the G.U.N Commander to falter in his stone cold demeanor.

The two remained silent for a few moments, both unsure what to say to each other with only their solemn facial expressions being a sign of what the other was thinking, and as it turned out the two's thoughts were on the exact same thing. Or to be more precise, the same person. Maria.

 **"(Would she really want me to do this?… Even if it is Shadow?)"** Thought the G.U.N Commander remembering the time Maria spent with Shadow unafraid of him despite a young Abraham telling her that Shadow was evil. She trusted Shadow without any hint of fear whereas he and everyone else aboard the ARK either stayed out of his way or only dealt with him under Gerald's orders.

Perhaps it was time to forgive, Shadow might have been conceived by that Black Creature but onboard the ARK he never once hurt anybody, him, Maria or otherwise. On the other hand the G.U.N Commander couldn't forget what happened during Dr Eggman's plan to take control of the ARK when Shadow aided the terrorist in his plot for world domination.

Had it not been for Sonic and Shadow's efforts the Black Hedgehog would most certainly be dead right now if Shadow never pulled such a heel faced turn.

"Listen Shadow, I don't exactly trust you yet but for now I will allow you to live" the G.U.N Commander stated firmly hoping that he was making the right decision in letting Shadow remain alive.

"But should you do anything to endanger this planet or its people again, I will hunt you down and be the one who puts a bullet in your head, do you understand?" warned the G.U.N Commander in a grave, serious tone that was not to be taken lightly.

Nodding in acknowledgement Shadow turned towards the exit and proceeded forward a few paces before saying his final words to the ageing G.U.N Commander.

"Then you must know that I'm going to do quite the opposite, I made a promise to Maria and to Sonic that I would protect the planet they loved so much" Shadow spoke before the airlock seal released and the door opened with Shadow walking out of the room.

 **"(We'll see Shadow… We'll see)"** thought the G.U.N Commander somewhat ambivalent between skepticism and wanting to believe that Shadow had truly changed into a guardian of the Earth.

xXx

 _ **FIVE MONTHS LATER (Set One Week Before The Events of Sonic Heroes)**_

Angel Island was a peaceful and serene place. It's jungles were lush and verdant, the water was fresh and its fruits were nourishing. But it was on this Island that its guardian Knuckles The Echidna remained troubled in his thoughts. The Master Emerald remained safely on its altar which would give the impression that everything was in its place but Knuckles's mind was still troubled.

Though many times had the Echidna trained his mind and his body to focus only on his duty Sonic's death had a profound effect on the red Echidna, it was a strange feeling that one wouldn't normally feel with the death of an acquaintance. Knuckles and Sonic both knew that neither one of them were friends, but the two did help each other out when their goals coincided with each other.

The red Echidna knew that it wasn't depression or sorrow he felt, seeing the corpses of your parents and leaving you alone to guard a mystical gem for the rest of your life tends to leave one a little colder than most emotionally speaking.

No. What Knuckles felt was foreboding.

He knew that with Sonic's death it would soon trigger a change in the flow of events, like something was supposed to have happened but didn't and now the world could have quite possibly have been doomed because of it. Knuckles wondered if the remaking of the world was at hand. As if a dark power from a forgotten time was going to resurrect itself and cast judgement upon the world, reshaping it in his or her image.

Feeling a strange energy emit from beneath the steps of the altar to the Master Emerald Knuckles walked to the edge of the Altar and saw within the blazing energy field a pair of red piercing eyes digging themselves into his soul.

"It's already begun" Knuckles said, preparing for battle as he saw the metallic creature emerge from the energy field.

xXx

Amy Rose had sunken into a deep depression after Sonic's heart was crushed knowing that everything she did was nothing but wasted time in the pursuit of her hero.

Amy always knew that Sonic would never love her in the way that she loved him but she pursued him anyway because she always knew that he would be around to save the world. She supposed that the truth of it all was she admired everything that Sonic stood for.

He stood for freedom, for peace and for speed. Amy loved that he was unbounded by the things most people dream of like love. Sonic's freedom gave him strength. But it was the divide between the domestic and the unlimited that Amy knew would always keep Sonic apart from her. She was frightened. Whenever she went on Adventures with Sonic and Tails while Sonic loved the thrill of the chase. No matter what Dr Eggman threw at him he always took it in stride and was victorious every time. Amy just wasn't strong enough.

And that was why she ended up here.

In the ruined city of Station Square. Though relief efforts had done much aid to the damages, everyone who survived Perfect Chaos's attack knew that this city would never return to its former glory again. Families who had lost their lives, people homeless and without shelter, the streets paved with the remnants of destruction. But worst of all… The rain.

It always rained. after the attack it seemed like Chaos's dark cloud always hung over the city and its people. Why did such a disaster have to happen to these people? these innocent people who lost so much so quickly.

Because one fat scientist just couldn't have been satisfied unless he got his way.

Dr Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik, the very name of the good Doctor had the Pink Hedgehog embittered for what he had done. Whether direct or indirect it seemed that whenever something bad happened it was either because Dr Eggman was behind it, or because he had triggered something he should never have tampered with to begin with.

Anger washed over the pink Hedgehog like the rain that was showering her as she stood facing the wall of a destroyed building, the water soaking over her quills, uncaring that her dress stuck to her skin nor if she were to catch her death out in the sickening rain that was stuck in a permanent downpour.

Sonic wasn't here anymore. She no longer had a purpose in life. So instead she found a new one.

Because it was in this dark place where she stared into the abyss only for her dark soul to stare right back at her.

Sonic wasn't a part of her life anymore.

And so to Amy his rules and way of life no longer applied.

When she found Dr Eggman Amy made a promise to herself.

When she found him…

she was going to kill him.

xXx

Construction of his new E-Series Robot E123 OMEGA had been completed. Armed with the most advanced weaponry and targeting computers this robot could become the most destructive android known to mankind. And unlike the defector E-102 GAMMA its mind responded only to Dr Eggman. All that remained was to program it to only follow orders of destruction.

But even in the completion of his latest creation Dr Eggman felt empty.

He just simply didn't care anymore.

What was the point in conquering the world when his Grandfather, his HERO, wanted to destroy the planet. Had Gerald not even considered the ramifications of his actions had he succeeded? his children on Earth would have died too. Ivo knew he had always been closer to Maria than he was to him but Ivo knew that his Grandfather never played favourites.

Gerald was a good man.

But it was not since Ivo had learned he had died because of an 'accident' that he ever felt so destroyed on the inside. It was only when he learned the truth that he became who he was today.

Using the knowledge of robotics and computers to hack into the G.U.N Database to uncover the truth behind his Grandfather's death. When Ivo uncovered the fact that it was his own government that betrayed and executed his Grandfather for trying to create a weapon that THEY asked of him to create had the young Ivo become truly apathetic.

Losing all feeling to the world around him, disconnecting from world and seeking only revenge against G.U.N for what they did to his family after Gerald's death, replacing their civilization with his own Eggmanland.

That was when Sonic entered the picture.

Though the good Doctor would never admit it there was a certain thrill to Sonic's interference that Eggman could only feel when facing his arch nemesis. A mutual feeling that both the Hedgehog and human understood on a subconscious level. But now that balance was gone, and in its place non-existence.

It was now when Eggman understood that one could not live without the other.

And so it was without this balance that Eggman made the decision to shelve the E-Series Robots. E123 OMEGA would be his final creation, and one that would ultimately go unused. It was time for this Scientist to disappear…

That is until he heard a communication signal from one of his Eggpawns.

"Dr Eggman sir, we have recovered something that you might find most interesting" droned the Eggpawn over the Comm channel. With Mild curiosity Eggman replied.

"Bring it to the base on the outskirts of Seaside Hill" Eggman commanded before cutting the comm link between him and the Eggpawn.

xXx

In the heat of battle Knuckles continued to face an enemy he had never seen before, a robot that resembled Sonic The Hedgehog was fighting him for the Master Emerald. This robot looked battle damaged, as if it was barely holding together.

But looks can be deceiving.

This Metal Sonic hit hard and it hit fast. Even if it's back thruster was damaged the burst of speed did well to aid in it's swift attacks. Knuckles went for a defensive stance upon realising that if he timed it right he could counter attack with an uppercut. But Metal Sonic much like his flesh and blood counterpart was unpredictable. Though it had never faced Knuckles in combat before it seemed to adapt quickly to his fighting style.

Changing up his tactics Knuckles decided that if he could strike the broken pieces of the robot's chassis he might be able to dish out some fatal damage so that the Metal Sonic would be destroyed. Swinging his fists towards the robot's body Knuckle's struck the core of Metal Sonic which had the robot in a stumble for a moment which Knuckles used strike the head, arm and upper torso with a series of powerful punches before finishing the robot off by kicking at the legs and forcefully punching his knuckles through the torso of the Metal Sonic.

Metal Sonic tried and failed to rise up only for the left arm that rose to fall limply to the ground as it realised that it was no use.

But Knuckles biggest mistake was underestimating his opponent, walking away when the battle was clearly not over yet. Much like the robot's carbon based predecessor the Metallic creature never gave up. It's red optics changing into three circles around it's iris, scanning the Master Emerald.

It was only when the Metal Sonic spoke that Knuckles realised the mistake he made.

 **"*LIQUID CHAOS DATA… SUCCESSFULLY COPIED*"**

Before the Red Echidna's eyes Knuckles saw as the Metal Sonic turn to a state of liquid metal, dissolving into the floor, leaving the guardian of the Master Emerald alone on the Island considering that it got what it came for.

"That robot's probably one of Dr Eggman's" Knuckles said to himself as he gathered his thoughts on what he saw before him.

"I hate to leave the Master Emerald unguarded for too long but I've gotta warn Tails about this and see what he can make of this" Knuckles stated as he made his way towards his workshop, hoping that he could find a way to stop that robot before things got out of hand.


	3. Chapter 3

I Am All Of Me 

Chapter 3: Regeneration

Dr Eggman's scans picked up a signal that his Eggpawn series robots were coming in to his base on the outskirts of Seaside Hill. Eggman held a brooding expression, he just wasn't as enthusiastic about his exploits as he usually was and neither was he really interested in doing anything in recent times.

Whatever they had brought him Eggman was sure that it would do nothing to lift his spirits. Nothing seemed amusing to the good doctor anymore.

However, there was always room for surprises. And that's exactly what Dr Eggman found when he saw what the Eggpawns had brought him after their arrival.

Taking their discovery into the base Dr Eggman looked shocked and completely surprised at what they had found. Sonic The Hedgehog… he was still alive.

At a glance Eggman had many questions racing through his mind, the fact that the blue hedgehog still lived, how he survived for so long even despite burning through the planet's atmosphere? And most importantly how he was still clinging to life as he processed the sight still in front of him.

Noticing the faint translucent golden aura around him Eggman realised that he must have what little Chaos Energy he still had to preserve his life after he had plummeted through the Earth's atmosphere.

For the first time since the Hedgehog's death the scientist gave out his big grin, he knew this was very unbefitting of him, especially considering that this was his arch nemesis in front of him. But Eggman prided himself on his unpredictability.

He was going to save Sonic The Hedgehog.

xXx 

Shadow had adapted to normal life quite well all things considered. When Tails had first offered him a place in his home and workshop in the Mystic Ruins he had never thought about how he was supposed to act or feel around other people, humans or anthros like him.

But thanks to the young fox he had gotten used to how things usually went for a normal day on the Earth.

Overtime he had found himself opening up with his emotions, gathering an understanding on how it is to truly express how to feel and read the emotions of others. At first Shadow remained so closed off from others he feared that it was merely a result of his trauma considering everything that happened throughout his life. However it was his conversations with Tails that he had allowed himself to empathise and allow himself to support the young fox just as Sonic had once done, the two exchanging anecdotes of the things they had done when they weren't battle Dr Eggman which Shadow in turn had expounded on the things he and Maria did together aboard the ARK before the incident.

It was through these stories that Tails had found himself slowly healing from the emotional pain that Sonic's death had caused. The fox knew that the pain would never truly go away, but he knew that with Shadow's help and the understanding the two had of what it's truly like to lose a friend so close to you, the two could fight whatever emotional demons that manifest themselves inside them.

Truth be told Tails had appreciated the peace time that the world seemed to be in right now. Dr Eggman hadn't shown himself with another one of his evil schemes to dominate the world and so long as Tails lived he would work to protect the world and preserve the peace on this planet just as Sonic had done.

Tails had then turned his attention over to the black Hedgehog who had recently been introduced to the concept of Television who had grown a fondness for Japanese Anime. Surprisingly Tails had often seen Shadow stay up later than him as he marathoned a plethora of shows spanning multiple seasons which was saying something considering how Tails got when he had been working well past midnight on his new inventions and machines.

It was actually quite surreal to see Shadow enjoy typically mundane activities such as this, but Tails had attributed that down to how Shadow had never truly lead a normal life until now.

Of course Tails did often have a G.U.N Liaison come around from time to time asking for a progress report on Shadow more than likely the G.U.N Commander's way of ensuring that Shadow wouldn't turn traitor and attempt to destroy the world as the old man had so often suspected.

But over the course of five months it seemed that Shadow was proving the G.U.N Commander wrong as Shadow lived a domestic lifestyle.

Taking one last glance at Shadow before returning to his work on the Tornado III Tails hoped that whatever peace there was for the time being stayed that way.

xXx

Alarms blared as the police cars stopped in front of a weapons store with a broken window. As the police entered inside the building a figure enveloped in the dark shadow of the night watched on knowing what they would find. Guns and Ammunition stolen, security cameras trashed and the cabinets that contained them destroyed.

Amy normally would be appalled at the destruction she caused, how violent and despicable her actions were. The old her would have been absolutely mortified at her actions, not to mention going out of her way to acquire firearms, let alone illegally.

But she needed to do this, to gather the tools she needed to kill Dr Eggman, it was his fault that Sonic was killed just as it was his fault that everything in her life went wrong because of him.

It was clear to the Pink Hedgehog that she needed to destroy the old part of herself that would abhor these actions and instead embrace a concrete mentality if she was to complete her goal and avenge her love.

She had acquired the weapons, now she needed the training.

The concept alone seemed simple enough, point and shoot. That much was obvious, but she had to master her marksmanship. To become dead accurate with her shots so that no target would escape her sights, anyone who interferes with her dies.

She couldn't make exceptions. Not for Tails, not for Shadow… not even Sonic.

Amy knew that Sonic himself would never have wanted her to walk down such a dark path. Even if he didn't love her like she loved him Sonic did care for Amy as a friend. But this wasn't Sonic's choice to make. It was Amy's.

And now was the time to prepare. Amy knew that she didn't have long so she knew she had to do it quickly.

xXx

A flickering green hue enveloped the room as Dr Eggman paced around the room whilst his computers and machines synthesised a bacterial liquid to fill the Capsule in the centre of the room. The substance itself was a crude substance based upon his Grandfather's own Heal Capsules. An invention that was known for healing physical injuries and treating basic forms of infection.

But the healing substance wasn't going to be nearly as effective as the scientist would've liked. He was a machinist, not a biologist after all.

As the Eggpawns lifted Sonic's near dead body into the capsule, suspending him with their metallic hands Eggman could see Sonic's eyes flutter in a state of delirium looking to be in a state of semi consciousness. Hoping that Sonic survived that Dr Eggman would hope that if Sonic was alive and well back to being the annoying rodent he was in the past then he could hope that Sonic would never mention this to anyone and that things could go back to normal. But of course completely convinced that this couldn't go wrong Eggman being the sneaky scientist he usually was had an ulterior motive.

Even if Sonic was back to his fully healthy self that didn't mean that he couldn't put his biological data to good use.

Now Eggman had the secrets to Sonic's abilities, far superior to the data he had to work with when he made Metal Sonic all those years ago.

But first things first, to heal his arch nemesis.

Once the Eggpawns placed the blue hedgehog inside the capsule Eggman entered a series of command codes on the terminal in front of the capsule which initiated the flow of liquid into the chamber.

Everything was going according to plan, bio-scans reported nominal and the liquid was doing its job in the healing process. By Eggman's own account he predicted that Sonic would recover within a week's time. And considering that it had been a long time since G.U.N had come snooping as usual the good doctor was certain that this time of peace would give Sonic plenty of time to recover and then Eggmanland would finally be back in business.

"So far… so good" Eggman remarked with a pleased smile.

xXx

 **"*ALL CHAOS CREATURE DATA SUCCESSFULLY COPIED*"** spoke out a distorted voice as it's metallic form as liquid metal had spread from its body enveloping the frog and Chao into its body, wishing to fully analyse the refuse of what little data remained of the Perfect Chaos creature. It was the last component Metal Sonic needed to repair himself. His damaged parts slowly repairing themselves as Liquid Metal had formed around his broken shell. Altering his original form Metal Sonic soon discovered that he became something so much more.

Metal Sonic had found himself… different. His personality had remained the same, cold, un-emotive and retaining a disgust for those of the flesh. But above all else Metal Sonic had retained the hatred he possessed for his loathsome copy Sonic The Hedgehog. He would like nothing more than to make him suffer for the indignities he had suffered because of Sonic.

But his form had changed in a much more dangerous way, his Hedgehog spikes protruded from the back of his head each one tipped with a white spearlike stripe across each quill alongside gauntlets for his arms and many spiked protrusions on his knees and shoes. His Chasis on the other hand remained relatively the same.

But while he did physically changed on the outside, on the inside he noticed that his mental capacity had increased exponentially.

He was no longer under control of the human scientist. Metal Sonic no longer felt his command codes compel him to obey Dr Robotnik's orders. For the first time in his existence he was free of human influence.

All those years in isolation had driven the robot insane with failure. Sonic had beaten him, Sonic had bettered him, Sonic had surpassed him, Flesh had defeated metal, matter that was susceptible to entropy had succeeded where the perfection of steel had failed.

This was illogical

Flesh is weak…

Flesh decays…

Flesh DIES.

And so it was with these thoughts inside Metal Sonic's mind that he had sustained himself for so long, preserving his consciousness with his mission, no… his purpose. To destroy his copy.

To validate his existence.

The Perfect Existence.

xXx

Knuckles cursed as he travelled by sea towards the Mystic Ruins, he knew he wasn't going to get to where he needed until a few days time. But such a thing was expected when Angel Island was floating above a far distant country.

That and he lacked the technological resources to contact Tails or Shadow about such matters.

Not that he ever truly needed to. Knuckles never wanted to be friends with Sonic or anybody else, the only important thing in his life was protecting the Master Emerald. And if Sonic's goal coincided with that then Knuckles was willing to aid the blue Hedgehog wherever he needed to in order to ensure that he could attain the Master Emerald and preserve it just as he had done since as far back as he could remember.

It was possible that by the time Knuckles reached Tails it already would've been too late, but he had try if only for the sake of uniting with the fox in an attempt to stop that robot.

Knuckles's mind was abuzz with what that Sonic looking robot would have wanted with The Master Emerald.

Usually most people attempted to steal it and sell it off for a high price, some wished to attain power through the great gem while others attempted to simply take the gem as a part of their collection. But most of that was for the personal gain of the fools who deluded themselves into thinking they could defeat the last Echidna. Nothing like the mechanical being.

The Metal Sonic simply left the Master Emerald alone.

Knuckles didn't know what that thing was doing but surely he didn't confront Knuckles for a simple sparring match to test its power. Whatever the case may have been there was something about the Master Emerald it was after, perhaps not the gem itself but something about it that eluded Knuckles. Well, the red Echidna knew he had plenty of time to think about it as he travelled towards the Mystic Ruins, half a world away from his destination.

xXx

"SUCCESS! A BRILLIANT SUCCESS!" Eggman cheered as he raised his fist in the air out of his recent triumph as if he was posing for a commercial for a popular automotive brand.

He had finally completed the first successful copy of Sonic The Hedgehog in his new line of robots the Sonic Androids.

In a capsule adjacent to the real Sonic there was a perfect replica of the blue blur. quills, his Soap shoes, his green eyes,everything was exactly the same about the blue blur on a physical level. According to scans even his abilities matched that of the original. Spin dash, Homing Attack and his use of the Sonic Wind attack he used against Shadow during his battle against him aboard the Space Colony ARK.

All but the memories, goals and ability to use the Chaos Emeralds that were present in the original Sonic had not existed within its copy. Though Dr Eggman was unsure of the Android in its unaltered state he was certain that the robot's personality would not resemble the original without its memories so rebellion wouldn't be an issue should something bad have happened right now.

Ever the zealous one, Eggman had begun mass production of his Sonic Androids. The purpose of which would be to give a fully recovered Sonic a challenge for when he was back in the game of trying to foil his evil schemes.

After all, wasn't it the blue hedgehog himself who said that 'an adventure's no fun if it's too easy'?

Although the mass produced Sonic Androids were to a smaller degree inferior to the prototype Eggman had created first, the mass produced Androids were much more malleable to weaponry alterations and little additions to allow the Androids to take on a variety of roles that could not be fulfilled by Eggpawns.

Much like his recently shelved Badniks, it seemed like Eggpawns would be on the way out should the Sonic Androids perform as expected.

However the Eggpawns still had their uses to the good doctor. Menial work around his facilities and all that.

Taking a look over to Sonic's bio-scan, his readings detailed a significant improvement in his health. Sonic's recovery was going smoothly and soon he and Eggman would be enemies again and things would be back to normal.

Oh how little he knew for what was to come.

 **A/N: A much shorter chapter than what I was hoping for but I don't think I could've added anymore without betraying the theme of this chapter (regeneration or healing more specifically.) Still overall I'm liking more and more the way things are turning out with this story and hopefully you guys are too. So with all that said I hope you've enjoyed the story so far.**


	4. Chapter 4

I Am All Of Me

Chapter 4: To Test The Limits of My Power

Dead silence was broken by the sounds of a pistol firing bullets into the targets on the wall.

With each passing day Amy's accuracy was improving. She never thought it possible that with five days of near non-stop training of her marksmanship, body and concentrated thought she would've made such a significant improvement over how she once was as a helpless damsel in distress that needed Sonic to rescue her because of an inane quest for love.

But it was all in service of Amy's goal.

To kill Dr Eggman.

The mad scientist's days were numbered.

But unfortunately this training regiment was not without distraction. Cream and her pet chao Cheese had been poking around her apartment asking for her to help find Cheese's chao friend Chocola who had apparently gone missing a few days ago.

Amy held no malice for the young rabbit, after all she was just a sweet kid who should enjoy her innocence while it lasts. But no matter what the state of their friendship might've been Amy had to sever all ties with those she once knew as friends in order to remain steadfast in her goal. And much to the six year old Rabbit's despair that included her.

Reloading another clip into the firearm Amy stowed away thoughts of emotion, friends and anything that would distract her from the path of revenge and return to her training.

The pink hedgehog had a feeling that the peace that had befallen the world would end soon.

And in its place… the threat of world annihilation.

xXx

The sensations of walking among those of the flesh were a sickening feeling to Metal Sonic. These disgusting humans and anthros suffocating them with their stench.

This new form of his allowed the robot to mould his body to recreate any shape his initial size and body mass would allow. The perfect disguise as one would put it. And what a disguise it was, blending in among the humans as one of their own. A perfect match for a living specimen, immune to scans that could reveal Metal Sonic's true identity.

It seemed that his disguise was so indistinguishable from the real thing that a field test of his new power had proven to be successful.

And now it was time to enact the next stage of Metal Sonic's plan.

What is a Robot King without his clockwork subjects?

And his subjects, much like most of the machinery in this world was a slave to its human master.

Dr Eggman.

He would provide everything Metal sonic needed to begin his revolution. Robot armies, Tanks, Jets, battleships and the facilities to fuel the Robot's new empire.

The age of flesh would give way to the Age of Steel and Metal Sonic, it's ruler.

And yet still there was one thing that had pervaded the Mechanical being's mind.

Sonic The Hedgehog.

He still had yet to make an appearance. Surely the Echidna would have signaled for the help of that loathsome copy to destroy his true self? Perhaps it was a case of overestimation, but Metal Sonic had to be sure that his copy would be drawn out for a confrontation. As if to give him a taste of the Robot Empire where the machines rule their organic creators as slaves.

Indeed Metal Sonic had plans for his organic copy yet to be put into motion.

He would have destroyed the blue hedgehog's friends as a testament to his strength before going against the blue blur in battle only to defeat him, but first he would have to break him, his mind, his body. He would have to destroy Sonic's spirit by turning a world that he once knew as that of the flesh into one of cold, grey steel dominated by only machines with him being the sole surviving creature of the flesh.

No matter how much Sonic would struggle, the idea that he would have lost his friends, his people and a world he was once familiar with would psychologically torture the blue hedgehog into insanity. Already unable to process how he could continue to live on without the very source that gave him a reason to protect the planet would leave him feral and ready for an all out attack, Uncaring on whether or not he would be destroyed in the process.

With his mind and his body broken, Sonic's spirit would have eroded to nothing but the decaying husk who falls victim to entropy as is the way of all organic life.

And it would be Metal Sonic's pleasure to watch as Sonic's life drains away as the blue hedgehog's once free spirit erodes into nothing more than a broken nihilist that had once dared to dream.

A slow death, well suited to that of his loathsome copy who dared to take his image.

xXx

Nothing pleased the Mad Scientist more than the construction of new and improved aircraft attachments to his Egg-mobile. The Egg-HAWK, Egg-ALBATROSS and his latest creation, a secret project he was going to call the Egg-EMPEROR.

Yes, this was the one… the be all end all of his ultimate mechs. Armed with a lance that was enhanced with an electrical pulse, thrusters for aerial combat and several missile launchers to fire out a full fledged assault rockets of death upon his enemies. The good doctor had to admit he had really outdone himself with this robot.

Even Sonic would have a run for his money with this mech.

"Yes! Everything is running smoothly" Eggman remarked, pleased with how everything was shaping up.

"Sonic better be ready for a rumble, because come tomorrow morning Westopolis won't know what hit it" Eggman stated confidently as if he was issuing a threat the the still unconscious blue hedgehog.

"But I forget myself, what would a party be without the invitations" Eggman continued as he walked over towards a desk where he was in the process of working on with scissors and glue and a pen to write out the literal invitation for Sonic and his buddies to as the kids say 'come at him bro' and see if he has what it takes to defeat Eggman before he takes over the world in three days.

Giving a gleeful grin Eggman had written the note as such.

 _"Dear Sonic Heroes._

 _Guess what Sonic Heroes?_  
 _I've finally developed the Ultimate Weapon!_  
 _In three days, I will conquer the world!_  
 _Think you can stop me?_

 _Sincerely - Eggman"_

"Perfect" remarked the scientist in admiration of the challenge he had set before before the blue hedgehog and his friends.

"Now all that remains is to finish up on the E-2000 Series of Transforming robots and my armada will be all ready to go!" Eggman concluded before he went to go off and check up on Sonic and his android duplicate.

The original living being was healing at a steady rate and should be in peak condition by tomorrow morning, something which pleased the good doctor knowing that soon it would be time for things to return to normal and that the melancholic feelings that he once felt would be abolished for good.

As for the Android Eggman felt himself at an impasse at what to do with the Prototype. True he could use it in the field alongside the other Sonic Androids but he lacked the same abilities as its kin and neither did it possess the abilities to use the Chaos Emeralds like Eggman would've hoped for when initially trying to create a near perfect copy of Sonic The Hedgehog.

In the end this Android was an outcast on both sides.

Too much like the original to become part of his army yet too robotic to have emulated his biological counterpart to a tee. No matter what it seemed or how it looked it was apparent to the good doctor that this Android was of no particular use to him as either a second in command for his troops or as a foot soldier within the ranks in the armada of the Eggman Empire.

Perhaps he would shelve the Android much in the same way he would E123 OMEGA, who knows really… Whatever the matter Eggman decided to retire for the evening and watch some Television.

Chao in Space was on tonight.

xXx

Boxercise. It takes the edge out of life when you're feeling aggravated. but unlike many who would say that anger would cloud one's judgement and leave them blinded and weak to an attack by a more level headed opponent, Amy Rose knew anger was like most things in life a tool… and one that could be used well given the right focus.

For it was the path of anger that leads to focus, directing your negative energies to center itself on one goal.

For what little remained of her former self Amy did recall such readings of spiritual energy in her time using Tarot cards and taking an interest in mystical things.

But that was the past.

All that mattered was the path of revenge.

An unrhythmic knock on the door was heard disturbing Amy's train of thought and her training as she bitterly walked towards the door, opting not to even bother opening it as a voice on the other side spoke.

"Uhh, Pizza Delivery for a Mr.., Charmy Bee?" spoke the cracked voice of what Amy would assume was of a teenager who was delivering pizza to the Chaotix Detective agency who had set up shot next door to Amy's apartment.

"Next door to your right" Amy replied dryly in a tone that indicated that whoever was bothering her should leave immediately.

"Oh, uh… thanks" replied the delivery boy answered before moving on to his correct destination.

Sighing heavily Amy held up three fingers and counted down the seconds before she heard a loud yell she had come to know all too well.

 _Three…_

 _Two…_

 _One._

"CHAAAAARMY!" Yelled Vector, his voice loud enough to shake the entire building's foundations in a fashion that looked right out of a cartoon.

What could be said about Vector the Crocodile? He's for the most part a well mannered man albiet with a few eccentricities, easy to flare up in anger but not if it's undeserved. As a detective he looked like he couldn't find his way to the bottom of a box of donuts but his goofy demeanour was more or less a cunning disguise for the sleuth and keen eye that Vector truly was.

Unfortunately what came with Vector was Charmy Bee.

Charmy was like most six year olds hyperactive and full of energy. But sadly for the kid one without parents or guidance to truly reign him in when he misbehaves.

Amy guessed that was why Vector took it upon himself to act as a father figure to Charmy. After all whether Vector saw it or not it seemed that even a brat like Charmy also possessed a determination and dedication to Vector's philosophy to 'never turn down work that pays.' Quite admirable for a kid of such a young age.

Luckily for the both of them they had a third level headed member of the Chaotix to keep the both of them from letting their egos get out of control.

Espio the Chameleon, a Ninja who Amy had previously met in passing whenever she ran her daily errands in the past. Espio was often respectful in a Japanese kind of way towards people he met in passing or those who he respected, honorifics and everything.

Amy was unsure of how skilled the Shinobi was but from the sounds of things Espio looked to be talented with his kunai and equally so in the art of stealth thanks to his camouflage ability. Something that looked as if he would be far better suited to a cloak and dagger black op mission with G.U.N than it would a goofy unsuccessful detective agency.

But despite how much Vector and Charmy might've annoyed him he remained loyal to the Chaotix crew. And admirable quality but one that wasted the skills Espio possessed.

And wasted indeed as Amy many times in her life had heard the squabbles of the Chaotix over many trivial things, and today it seemed to be over Pizza.

xXx

"CHARMY YOU KNOW WE DON'T HAVE THE MONEY FOR A PIZZA YOU DOPE!" Vector yelled only for Charmy to simply laugh at the croc as he knew his one weakness for getting him out of trouble.

"But Vector, don'tcha wanna have a tasty slice of a meatlovers Pizza" Charmy replied in an alluring voice as he held up a slice of Vector's favourite pizza allowing the Croc to get a whiff of the tasty heavenly pizza goodness. How could Vector resist, he simply had no choice but to let Charmy off the hook for just one bite of his favourite pizza.

Espio sighed as the two chowed down knowing that his Ninja talents were wasted in this group. But that being said did feel a sense of kinship with how Vector and Charmy interacted with one another. To the Chameleon Ninja it felt like a family.

"These two are a handful" Espio muttered to himself while the two chowed down on their pizza.

"Charmy, you know that we can't continue to spend money so frivolously, we must conserve our finances until we are hired by another client" Espio said in his usual deep toned voice, stoic and reserved as it always was.

"Aww c'mon Espio, sit down and have a slice" Charmy whined before offering Espio a slice of pizza with a toothy grin on the young bee's face.

"No, I must remain on my strict diet of… tofu" Espio replied hesitantly mentioning tofu knowing he he was made fun of by Vector and Charmy for his vegetarian diet.

"Meh, suit yourself" Charmy replied continuing to wolf down his pizza.

"Seriously though, if we do not find work soon we will be living on the streets and I will be forced to take on my juggling act… again" espio remarked shuddering at his memories of the Chaotix's financial struggles in the past where Vector had temporarily set them up as a circus act in Robotnik's base which he disguised as a Carnival back when they first met Knuckles.

Also suspiciously around the time Mighty went missing… **"(ah whatever, he'll turn up… I think)"** Espio thought, waving off the thought that Mighty had vanished forever.

"Relax Espio I got it all figured out." Vector remarked despite his voice being muffled by the pizza he was chewing on. Gulping down the last of his slice he stood up and decided to address Espio's worries.

"Ya see there's a reason why I've been stressing our band practice over the past few weeks and it has come to my attention that with your Shamisen playing, Charmy's drumming and my FANTASTIC TENOR! we'll have a successful musical career to back ourselves up in case of a financial crisis" Vector explained with compete confidence in himself.

Whether that was for his singing ability or his backup plan was anyone's guess.

"That sounds awfully risky. Are at all certain that this will work?" Espio queried to which Vector simply waved him off.

"Of course it will, besides, my detective's intuition tells me that soon we're gonna be getting client who's loaded with cash, and as soon as he hires us, we'll be set for life" Vector replied as he kicked back in his 'office' chair flicking on his headphones as he listed to the Team's theme song titled 'Team Chaotix.'

Sighing heavily Espio hoped that Vector's detective intuition pulled through, otherwise he'd be living in a Cardboard Dojo, dancing for his next meal.

xXx

"Zzzzz…"

A dark room illuminated by the luminescent Television displaying white noise while a buzzing sound emitted from the speakings only to be intermittently interrupted by Dr Eggman's loud snoring.

A late evening movie had more than certainly done the trick in helping the doctor relax after a hard days work preparing to take over the world. And now that he was off into the peaceful realms of sleep he was already dreaming of his utopia Eggmanland and all the love he would receive as ruler… OR ELSE!

Yep, it seemed that all was going perfectly, nothing could stop the might and scientific genius of Dr Eggman now.

But like all of Eggman's plans it seemed that a certain blue hedgehog in some shape or form intervened.

 _ **"INTRUDER ALERT! SECURITY BREACH ON THE PERIMETER OF THE SEASIDE HILL BASE! ALL EGG-PAWNS AND SECURITY COUNTERMEASURES INITIATED TO DEAL WITH THE INTRUDER"**_

"NYAAAH!" Eggman yelled as he fell out of his armchair and onto the floor upon being rudely awakened by the Intruder Alarm. Growling angrily Eggman rushed his way towards the control room and began his work on the computer to get a fix on the intruder and deal with them appropriately.

"EGG-PAWNS REPORT! WHO DARES ATTACK MY BEAUTIFUL BASE!?" Eggman demanded as he held his finger on a button to transmit his instructions towards his subordinates.

However much to the doctor's chagrin the Egg-pawns were dead silent without a response.

"Damn it" Eggman cursed as he slammed his fist down on the console.

As if that wasn't bad enough the Intruder Alarm had been suddenly silenced making Eggman a little more than stressed.  
The machinist's mind began racing with things to do before the intruder managed to penetrate the control room

The first course of action was to get to his Eggwalker as a means of defending himself. Unfortunately that was locked away in the Vault alongside E123 OMEGA. But this had also gave Eggman a second thought.

What to do about Sonic.

He couldn't let this intruder get in the way of his plans or have him killing off Sonic. But in the tense race against time Eggman had made a miscalculation. He had forgotten which one was the real Sonic. Each capsule was lead-lined and he hadn't the time to perform a full scan to see which was the Android and which was the original.

Making a hasty decision Eggman Chose to take the right capsule by commanding the near by Egg-pawns to take the Capsule away from the intruder and seal it in the vault before it was too late.

Shortly retrieving his Eggwalker before the Vault was sealed with Sonic inside Eggman prepared for an attack before again contacting any Egg-pawns.

"Report! Where is the intruder now?" Eggman queried only to receive silence on the comm-link followed up by the power to go out.

Upon turning on the headlights on his EggWalker, Dr Eggman had a hardened look on his face, determined to destroy the intruder before any more harm could befall his work.

Suddenly an Egg-pawn burst into the room only to be met with a less than pleased Dr Eggman.

"What is the intruder's current location?" Eggman asked only to receive silence from the Eggpawn.

"ANSWER ME!" Eggman demanded in a fit of rage only for the Eggpawn to tilt its head to the side before finally speaking to its creator.

"I'm surprised you haven't recognised me… After all, you created me to surpass Sonic The Hedgehog" Answered a deep digitally distorted robotic voice which had Eggman's eyes widen as he recognised what stood before him.

"M-Metal Sonic!?" exclaimed the Mad Scientist visibly shocked at the reappearance of his creation that he thought was long dead after its destruction on Little Planet.

Shedding the Egg-pawn form and revealing his true self, Neo Metal Sonic had unveiled himself to his creator knowing exactly how this was going to go down, but decided to watch the human cower in fear at his new power. Although the robot did believe that this opportunity would make for an excellent chance to truly test the limits of his power.

Trying to maintain an air of confidence in the situation Eggman knew that his next choice of words probably wouldn't work but he had to try none the less.

"So, you have decided to return to me have you? EXCELLENT!" Eggman remarked as he raised his fist in the air triumphantly though internally worried when he saw the cold calculating optics flash a deeper red colour as if indicative of amusement in the Robot's eyes.

"How amusing, the creator still believes itself a god when in fact he is merely an ant that thinks itself a giant" Neo Metal Sonic replied mockingly yet his deep digitised voice making his statement sound more threatening to the human scientist creating an eerie feeling within the dark room luminously lit by the robot's glowing red eyes and the light cast off Eggman's Walker.

Taking on a glare Eggman decided to assert his authority over his creation.

"I made you… and this is how you repay ME?" Eggman asked with his tone taking a more serious vibe than he normally would've had it.

"I have evolved beyond the need for your existence Dr Eggman" Neo Metal Sonic stated in a cold tone which Eggman found rather chilling considering the circumstances.

"And you feel it appropriate to defy me? You're making a grave mistake Metal Sonic, submit to me or I will destroy you" Eggman threatened as he primed the Eggwalker's vulcan cannon for combat.

Deciding to humour his creator Neo Metal Sonic opted to demonstrate his new powers in battle.

Firing a hailstorm of bullets upon the robot Eggman followed up by charging up his laser Canon, unleashing a barrage of energy blasts towards Neo Metal Sonic after he had locked onto the robot.

Remaining steadfast Neo Metal Sonic hadn't moved at all as he took Eggman's assault, being torn apart by his bullets and laser blasts pleasing the good doctor knowing that his supreme skills had made him victorious.

"YOSH! Now you know why I am the best" Eggman remarked victoriously

But Eggman soon saw that Neo Metal Sonic wasn't to be defeated so easily.

Liquid Metal had began to reform the destroyed form of Eggman's creation, once broken plating now repaired and now it was the robot's turn to unleash his arsenal upon his human creator.

Neo Metal Sonic's hand began to illuminate a blue hue as electricity pulsed while his optics focused on Eggman's walker, wishing to give the Doctor a mere taste of his power.

Firing a beam of lightning Eggman maneuvered his walker away from the line of fire, with the electricity barely skimming the armor of his machine to which Eggman decided to put an end to this fight before it was too late. He had to use the Power Laser.

Unfortunately the Power Laser took time to charge up, which would make things very difficult if Neo Metal Sonic attempted to swiftly end the fight before Eggman could unleash his ultimate attack.

Metal Sonic slowly began circling around Eggman, deciding to attack and wishing to see the fear apparent on the Doctor's face as his creation bided his time. Watching him stink of the disgusting scent of humanity, sweating like the fat pig he was while his heartbeat increased in a quicker rhythm.

A steadily increasing pitch reverberated on the EggWalker's computer indicative of the Power Laser being charged up to which Dr Eggman wasted no time in targeting Neo Metal Sonic and preparing to fire.

"ALL SYSTEMS, FULL POWER!" Eggman exclaimed as he pressed a series of buttons leading to a large energy blast headed straight for Neo Metal Sonic, absolutely obliterating the robot into non-existence.

Dr Eggman could feel the hot cannon searing as it overheated upon the usage of the Power Laser combined with the Machinist's heavy breathing whilst he wiped the sweat off his brow, adjusting his goggles taking a deep breath as he knew the worst was over.

Looking over to the puddle Liquid Metal on the floor, the substance began to dissipate which Eggman guessed was the result of the Power Laser's concentrated blast.

"That was too close" remarked the good doctor until he heard an all too familiar crackling sound which had Eggman's heart stop for a brief moment as he heard that digitised voice speak again.

"You didn't truly believe that you could destroy me, did you?" Neo Metal Sonic remarked rhetorically only to have Eggman attempt to scramble out of his EggWalker only to too late realise that Neo Metal Sonic had defeated him.

A beam of electricity punctured a hole through the EggWalker chasing it to topple to the ground with Eggman collapsing to the ground along with it. Fearing for his life Eggman desperately tried to think up of an escape plan.

His teleport station was back at his Pyramid Base. The Eggmobile was trashed with the destruction of the EggWalker. And any of his other Machines were either in the hangar bay or finishing construction for his future plans.

"It seems that the creator is now at his creation's mercy, how fitting" Neo Metal Sonic remarked, expressing amusement in his deep voice.

The robot turned his head towards the capsule containing what Eggman hoped was the Sonic Android instead of the real Sonic, because if he was wrong then Sonic perhaps would've been destroyed for good this time.

"Well then, if you're not going to destroy me then there must be a reason you have kept me alive" Eggman reasoned trying to bide his time for an escape opportunity.

"Ever the perceptive one, Though it is true I wish to keep you alive it is not without reason" Neo Metal Sonic replied which gave the Doctor a sigh of relief that he wasn't going to die… yet.

"And what would that be?" Eggman queried only to receive a chuckle from his robotic creation.

"To test the limits of my power" Neo Metal Sonic answered before he grabbed Eggman by his throat and wrapped his metallic hands tightly as if to lightly strangle his former master.

"But do not think that I spared you because I hold pity for you Dr Eggman, I only wish to keep you alive so I can show you the downfall of the age of flesh as it gives way to the Age of Steel" Neo Metal Sonic stated coldly as he threw Eggman against the capsule containing Sonic.

"Ah, your Database had indeed mentioned your mass production of your Sonic Androids, and this must be the progenitor" remarked the robot as it looked upon the likeness of the Android and how similar it looked to it's flesh counterpart. Wishing to play along for the sake of his nemesis's survival Eggman put on his trademark grin.

"Yes, this Android is my trump card for defeating you" Eggman cockily remarked standing up before entering a pose where he had his finger pointed directly at the Liquid Metal Robot.

"So stand down or prepared to be scrap metal you metallic moron" Eggman threatened with a maniacal toothy grin gracing his face.

"It seems you have forgotten your place Doctor" Neo Metal Sonic stated before he poised his arm towards the capsule and blasted a beam of lightning towards Sonic disintegrating the capsule with what Eggman hoped to god was the Sonic Android along with it.

It was after that where Neo Metal Sonic's form had began to change as the Liquid Metal enveloped the Robot's body transforming him into an exact physical copy of Dr Eggman.

"Now then, lets get down to business shall we Doctor" Neo Metal Sonic stated in Dr Eggman's voice shocking the real Eggman that Neo Metal Sonic not only could copy the physical features of any living being but also replicate its voice to which Eggman finally figured out what Neo Metal Sonic was going to do with his new form.

"Although I do wish to keep you alive Doctor unfortunately I do not suffer fools gladly, so for the time being you will be detained inside your prison cells" Neo Metal Sonic spoke only for Eggman to shake his head.

"I don't have any prison cells in this base" Eggman replied making Neo Metal Sonic anime sweat drop.

"According to your base's schematics there is another appropriate place to put you, on your Flagship the Final Fortress, inside a dark place where few tread" remarked the Sonic looking robot before striking his former master across his face, knocking him unconscious.

It was time to put his plan into action. Although Neo Metal Sonic hadn't known where the real Sonic was he knew that there would be only one way to draw him out… An attack on Central City.

 **A/N: Another chapter done and dusted. I think I might've lost my luster a little with the fight scene between Eggman and Neo Metal Sonic (I've always been bad at writing fight scenes) but overall the chapter turned out pretty well as far as I'm concerned.**

 **I also tried to add a sense of lightheartedness to avoid an overly angsty tone with the Chaotix crew (also to fit in with the tone of Sonic Heroes a little better.)**

 **But never the less I hope you enjoyed this chapter and now we're reaching the tipping point where Sonic Heroes begins and the AU version of events will come to fruition.**


	5. Chapter 5

I Am All of Me

Chapter 5: An Invitation to Party

"Finally!" Knuckles said, relieved that he was closer to his final destination in the Mystic Ruins, arriving in Central City hoping wasn't too late before that Metal Sonic thing came back and do god knows what to the people of Central City. But his mission remained the same. He had to find Tails and Shadow to warn them about that robot before it was too late.

A sudden shadow cast itself over the Echidna as he ran through the city streets stopping in his tracks as he looked above him to see the object that cast the shadow.

 _"MUAHAHAHAHAHAH!, Citizens of Central City, tremble in fear as you witness the raw POWER of the Eggman Empire!"_ declared the booming voice of only one man who was at the core of the Eggman Empire.

"Eggman? So he must've been the one to send out that Metal Sonic robot. I should've known that slime ball was behind all this!" Knuckles said to himself, frustrated that Eggman just wouldn't stay down. But this had only accelerated Knuckles's pace to do something.

 **"(Whatever Eggman's got planned I've gotta hold him off until Shadow and Tails show up)"** Knuckles thought as he bolted towards the nearest building and began rapidly climbing the building using his spiked boxing gloves as his means of ascension, reaching the top of the building within mere seconds.

Noticing that he'd never reach Eggman's battle ship at this altitude Knuckles scanned the horizon for a taller building nearby that could give him the height necessary to reach the flying fortress.

It was then that blue streaks of light had illuminated the darkness cast by large airship in the sky.

"What the hell is going on down there?" Knuckles cursed as he watched on while the streaks of light impacted the buildings and streets beneath the red Echidna. Knuckles knew for sure that it wasn't a laser or high calibre bullets as the origins of those blue streaks came from all the sides of the vessel regardless of whether or not they were armed with cannons or turrets.

"WATCH! As a hero you all once considered your saviour, now becomes a symbol for your DESTRUCTION!" Eggman bellowed over a loudspeaker, issuing a threat towards the general human and anthro population as they caught a glimpse of their enemy, once a brave and noble hero was now a tool of oppression.

Sonic The Hedgehog.

Hearing the screams of the Citizens down below, Knuckles dived from the skyscraper and entered into a drill dive move that he had perfected shortly before Rouge attempted to steal the Master Emerald during the whole Space Colony ARK business.

Locking onto his target the blue dot soon became larger and larger as Knuckles crashed into the ground taking down whatever the blue thing was.

It was only when Knuckles saw the faint resemblance to his deceased associate that his mind began to work things out.

"Looks like Eggman's mass producing these things now. Heh, all the more for me to smash" Knuckles remarked as he punched his fists together and began to take on the Sonic Androids, keeping a keen eye to examine their fighting style.

To Knuckles's disappointment they lacked any of the erratic touches the original's moves, all too easy and predictable. And even then most of them were suited to ranged combat as their appendages contained hidden missile launchers or machine guns. Something a little typical of Dr Eggman's armada, not to mention something that disgraced the memory of Sonic The Hedgehog in the way of how he fought against his enemies.

Sonic wouldn't have been caught dead using a gun.

xXx

 _"… And that's the story of how Professor Pickle got his groove back- WAIT! Ladies and Gentlemen, I am receiving breaking news of an emergency situation occurring in Central City. Reports are coming to light of the infamous terrorist Dr Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik has starting a mass hysteria within the city as he deployed an army of Androids which all resemble the now deceased world renown hero Sonic The Hedgehog"_

Shadow was in a state of shock as he saw what Eggman had done, using the image of such a good, kind hearted and heroic person like Sonic and using robots in the blue hedgehog's image for evil… The very thought of that was sickening to the Ultimate Life Form.

Shadow could've only imagined what this could've done to Tails.

All it took was a look upon the furrowed brow and lips quivering in anger as the Fox saw what Eggman had done to his older brother and role model. Though Tails was still young, even he knew that he couldn't let this insult to his best friend's memory cloud his mind with thoughts of vengeance. Sonic wouldn't have wanted that. Instead it was time for Miles Prower to step up and be the hero that Sonic always knew he would become.

"Lets go!" Tails spoke with a confident smile on his face, he would show Sonic and the world that he was just as much of a hero as Sonic was and in many ways even beyond what Sonic could do.

As both Shadow and Tails entered the Tornado III ready for battle, the plane firing its engines to life. The two of them knew that whatever Eggman had planned for them,both of them would be able to take on whatever he could dish out.

xXx

It was time… Time to begin her mission. The invasion had begun, and using her deceased love's image no less.

The last time she faced Dr Eggman she was nothing but a burden to those who could fend for themselves.

She would not make that same mistake again.

Clothing herself with a black shirt and Shin length cargo pants laced with ammo packs and belted with bandoliers of ammunition, Amy prepared her weapons for an all out assault on whatever she may face whether it be Eggpawns, those Sonic Androids she saw on the News.

If she could damage one of Eggman's clunkers then she could attempt to interrogate it and find out where Eggman's base was.

And considering how Eggman felt it necessary to program his Eggpawns with a comic relief personality their traits should give way to a weakness that Amy could exploit through… violent methods.

Lets just say there are no secrets between Amy Rose and her Piko Piko Hammer.

xXx

 **"(57, 58, 59… I've almost beaten my high score)"** Knuckles mused as he punched his way through more canon fodder Sonic Androids, doing his best to protect the innocent civilians from them doing what he did best, Punching things.

Though there wasn't any real trouble or threat given by these nameless Sonic Androids but it did allow Knuckles to alleviate his boredom by utilizing specialized moves of his like the Maximum Heat Knuckles attack, shooting him around the area, locked onto several Androids and blasting around like a bullet, carving through each of them like a knife through warm butter.

But like a plague of Zombies, the Sonic Androids had strength in numbers which Knuckles had to admit gave them an advantage.

"Now lets cause some real pain" Knuckles remarked ready for another round of this robot beatdown.

Suddenly the sound of machine gun bullets tore through the Sonic Androids as Knuckles looked up to see the Tornado III blast across the sky making Knuckles smile, knowing that Tails hadn't let the death of Sonic cripple him enough to protect the planet he loved so much.

"Took em long enough" Knuckles commented before audio feedback had screeched over the city.

 _"WHAT!? It's Tails, I'll show that little flying furball the TRUE meaning of terror!"_ Eggman announced over the city before several of Eggman's robotic Falco Eagles came in a flock from the battleship, each of them dropping an platoon of Eggpawns armed with blasters and laser cannons poised towards the red Echidna only to be quickly stuck down by a black blur illuminated by a yellowish hue.

"Knuckles!" Tails called out as the Tornado III transformed into walker mode, landing nearby the Echidna.

"Long time no see" Knuckles replied nonchalantly as if the battle around him was an afterthought.

"I take it you two are aware that Eggman's been making these Sonic robots?" Knuckles said before getting a nod from Tails as Shadow came to join them.

"Indeed, But such a dramatic irony feels unfitting of the Doctor" Shadow began, wishing to put forward his hypothesis.

"Dr Eggman even despite his evil intent would never go as far as to desecrate even his arch nemesis by mocking his image upon his death" Shadow explained trying to rationalise the doctor's behaviour based on the short time he had worked together with him.

"Well Eggman doesn't seem like the type of guy who would do that but maybe Sonic's death sent him off the deep end?" Tails spoke putting forward his theory as to why Eggman was resorting to such extreme measures in his latest scheme to conquer the world.

"Hey, check this out!" Tails remarked as his eyes spotted what looked like a card in the destroyed Eggpawn's hand.  
Upon picking up the card a message soon started playing.

 _"Muahahahaha…_

 _Guess what Sonic Heroes?_  
 _I've finally developed the Ultimate Weapon!_  
 _In three days, I will conquer the world!_  
 _Think you can stop me?"_

"So Eggman's giving us a challenge huh" Knuckles commented upon seeing the good doctor taunt the trio about his new secret weapon.

"Looks that way, and I doubt that those Sonic Androids are gonna be the last of what Eggman has in store for us" Tails said, adding his own thoughts onto the matter.

"It doesn't look like we have choice here, we must make haste towards the Doctor's base, and I believe I know the location" Shadow spoke recalling one of Eggman's installations being in Seaside Hill as a recently completed base which Eggman had frequently carried supplies to and from the ARK back when he had teamed up with Shadow.

"Then lets go scramble some eggs" Knuckles remarked with a grin as he punched his knuckles together ready to give Eggman a beatdown for his current scheme to take over the world. With their goal in mind the trio took off towards Seaside Hill, Ready for another adventure.

xXx

A series of beeps had emanated from the Eggpawn as it's optics reactivated.

"Ugh… where am I? This does not look like robot heaven?" The Eggpawn droned in its robotic voice.

"You're gonna wish you were in robot heaven when I'm done with you" spoke out a female voice shrouded in darkness. Oil-like sweat began to leak from the robot's forehead as his system began overheating.

"Oh no… please do not hurt me, I am brittle. Master Eggman had created me on a limited budget" pleaded the robot which had it not been loyal to his creator would have been furious that he was created on the cheap.

"If you just tell me where your creator is and maybe I'll consider giving you a merciful death… like smashing you into a hub cap" the female replied in a gravely serious tone which the Eggpawn had felt endoskeleton chilling fear.

"I… I cannot, Master Eggman would destroy me" the Eggpawn stammered, too scared to do anything and even more fearful of how he was going to die either by Eggman or by his captor causing her to sigh in disappointment.

"And this is what happens when I try to be nice" The female said as a blinding light had shone in the robot's face as he saw his captor was the pink hedgehog Amy Rose, now looking considerably more dangerous than Eggman's database had described her which had the Eggpawn believing that Dr Eggman had made an error in his unreliable data.

Amy's eyes narrowed on the Eggpawn

"Seeing as you've decided to be difficult you leave me no choice. To your left you can see that I've rigged a generator to create a temporary overload of your systems just enough to cause such a significant amount of pain that you will need time to recover from before your given complete control of your appendages" Amy explained with a grave tone to her voice as she showcased a table with a rusty generator that had seen better days. And given the looks of things would probably hurt… a lot.

"And to your right lies a blow torch. should you refuse to answer I will enjoy watching you scream as I sever your limbs as you feel ever wire, bolt and synthetic nerve singed and torn from your gluttonous frame. So tell me… Where can I find Dr Eggman?" Amy continued in a dark tone making the robot equally terrified as the oil he sweated could come alight and also begin to burn away at his metal frame however ponderous the material and construction might've been.

"JESUS CHRIST!" screamed the robot, cursing whilst praying for that biblical figure to come and save him from his demented captor.

"I doubt it" Amy remarked dryly as she walked over to the blow torch pulling the protective visor over her face as the welding device burst to life in a concentrated stream of flames before she slowly approached the Eggpawn like a slasher from a 1980s horror movie.

What was worse was that even if he closed his optics he could still hear the flames roar for his transmission fluid, as if to become the soundtrack for his oncoming pain.

"S-stop… I shall reveal the location of Master Eggman… just please do not dismantle me, I am too pretty to die" the Eggpawn droned with a slightly fearful emotive to his digitized voice.

"Good" Amy affirmed as she awaited the robot's response.

"Dr Eggman is currently stationed at the Seaside Hill outpost" The Eggpawn revealed breathing a sigh of relief that he would not be in pain anymore by his captor but worrying that Dr Eggman would destroy him once he learned of his creation's failure.

"That's all I needed" Amy remarked with a sly tone to her voice as she had the blow torch poised towards the Eggpawn and continued walking forward towards the Eggpawn, grinning as she decided to show the Eggpawn a little taste of the revenge she had in store for his creator.

"Wait, STOP what are you doing? I have revealed the information to you!" the Eggpawn pleaded as it's eyes began to leak some kind of liquid crystal substance afraid that it was going to be dismantled.

"I never said I was going to let you live. in fact what I'm going to do to you, I'm going to do tenfold to your master" Amy chuckled as came face to face with the crying Eggpawn, her face obscured by the welder's mask which hidden a twisted grin that lay beneath, going to enjoy every second of pain the robot felt.

"Oh no… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" The robot droned in as much terror that it's voice could emote… which wasn't really that much for anybody in the surrounding area to really consider investigating.

xXx

"a-aa—aa-aaah- no, do not burn that… I need that to live, noooo-oo-o"

"Huh?" Espio spoke in confusion as the noise awoken him from his meditation.

"Vector, did you hear that?" Espio asked only to be met with Vector listening to his Team's theme song Team Chaotix by Gunnar Nelson head banging to the rockin' tune as he half whisper sang the lyrics which had Espio sigh before returning to his meditation blocking out the noise and return his concentration for a peace of mind.

Moments later the door to their office flew open as Charmy raced inside.

"IT'S HERE, YEAH!" Charmy shouted as he crash landed into Vector causing the package he was carrying to flip out of the bee's grasp and into the air which Espio drew out his kunai and with the flick of his wrist had the blade fly across the air and pin the package to the wall.

"What's wrong with you!" Vector exclaimed as he was snapped back to reality upon Charmy's 'subtle' entrance, readjusting his headphones.

"It's here, it's here… We've got work!" Charmy exclaimed excitedly.

"WHAT?" Vector gasped as his voice cracked into a high pitch, shocked that the Detective Agency had employment at long last.

Then as if on cue, thanks to the Kunai rupturing of the package it had opened to reveal a Walkie Talkie which had fallen out of the box which Vector had fumbled to catch, luckily not breaking the device.

"I've heard good things about you and requite your detective services" Spoke out a muffled high pitched yet rough toned voice practically buttering up the Chaotix Crew with praise.

"And I can pay handsomely!" added the voice of their new employer which had both Vector and Charmy seeing dollar signs in their eyes.

Ever the cautious one Espio opted to interject before the Croc and the Bee's egos had increased to the size of a galaxy.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Espio commented in a grave tone, his fist clenched to have his body language mimic his distrust of their new employer.

Vector picking himself up off the floor began to walk towards the Chameleon Shinobi and reassure him of their Detective Agency policy.

"Espio don't be silly! Besides, you know our policy. We never turn down work that pays!" Vector proclaimed as Charmy flew in beside him.

"Yeah, you know our policy!" added the Young Bee to back up the Crocodile's claims.

"Come on boys, lets go!" Vector commanded in an eager voice, glad that the Chaotix Crew were EATING TONIGHT!

"YES SIR!" Charmy cheered as he flew around in a loop before joining his leader in their latest adventure

"Roger" Espio spoke, his voice brief and to the point, following suit with Vector and Charmy.

xXx

Descending from the darkness like the very species she was, Rouge dropped down from the decrepit ceiling of Eggman's vaults within his recently abandoned Seaside Hill Outpost, recalling him shipping supplies to and from there during the Space Colony ARK incident.

Rouge knew that the old scientist was bound to have stored some pretty valuable jewels somewhere in there. It was simply a matter of… 'Liberating' them.

Flipping to the locked door of his vault with her back against the metallic surface, the bat woman had input the four digit passcode.

 ** _E.G.G.S …_**

A confirmation beep had her smiling as the pressure seal had given way, the door opening to reveal it's secrets to Rouge as she narcissistically overlooked her gloved nails in a dainty feminine yet overconfident kind of manner.

"This must be it! I've found Eggman's secret treasure!" Rouge remarked in a hushed excitement as she walked into the room, finding a capsule in the center of the room, its bright emerald green glow obscuring what the bat girl was sure to be riches that were now hers for the taking.

As the door closed behind her, Rouge stepped towards the control console for the Capsule unknowing of the long forgotten E-Series robot that had just awakened behind her.

it's piercing red eyes menacingly glowing in the dark as it began to determine the organic life form who just awoke it from it's deep slumber.

Moving itself forward with a heavy thud with each step the robot took, it had identified the organic creature as an Anthropomorphic Bat before scanning the contents of that capsule which due to its lead-lined compound had made a bio-scan impossible for the E-Series Robot to identify it which had then lead to him searching his databanks for any relevant information pertaining to the contents of those kinds of capsules and their contents.

Typing away at the control console in an attempt to get it open, the emerald green liquid had drained from the capsule and into the chemical tubes that had extruded from the back of the storage device.

With a loud seal magnetic seal release the Capsule opened to reveal a figure that had shocked Rouge to the core, placing her hand over her mouth as if the air had suddenly escaped her lungs.

Sonic The Hedgehog was locked away inside Eggman's base.

Opening his eyes for the first time and scanning the room, immediately spotting massive robotic eye-sore illuminated by his glowing red eyes. Sonic leapt from the Capsule as the robot had unleashed a hailstorm of bullets across the walls of the Vault, destroying machinery and the capsule in his assault.

Seeing the Bat in his trajectory, Sonic pushed Rouge out of the way as she crashed onto the floor, barely able to process the current turn of events surrounding her.

"Stay here!" Sonic called out amongst the ear pounding Chain-gun fire, before he leapt off in an attempt to get the drop on the crazed E-Series Robot.

"Sonic!" Rouge exclaimed as her mind began to compile itself and logically process all that was unfolding her right then and there.

"Must eradicate all Eggman's robots!" E123-OMEGA exclaimed as he found his targeting system lacking the processing speed necessary to keep up with what his databanks had come up with as Dr Eggman's Sonic Androids. Though his scans detected a model that wasn't on record as it did not deploy any hidden weaponry it didn't matter in the slightest to OMEGA just so long as it was destroyed.

The Blue Hedgehog upon finally getting enough distance between himself and the Robot charged towards him, ready to take out the immediate threat, blasting through the bullets just barely missing the Blue Blur's fur.

"Hey, HOLD UP!" Rouge exclaimed as she managed to wedge herself between the opposing forces, placing her hands on both Sonic and OMEGA's foreheads, splitting them apart before the two relented their assault of their own free will.

Taking a deep breath, Rouge saw both the Blue Hedgehog and E-Series Robot glaring daggers at each other both lying in wait for one of them to make a move so they would have the excuse to destroy one another.

As OMEGA had keenly observed the Blue Hedgehog he activated his scanner to confirm the best way to destroy his target which had revealed to the E-Series Robot that he wasn't dealing with the same Sonic Android as those listed in the cargo manifest.

A whirring sound had emanated from the OMEGA's servos as he straightened up indicating that he considered Sonic a non-hostile… For the time being anyway.

"Okay… Lets start this from the beginning…" Rouge spoke as she turned to look at the blue hedgehog, hoping to get the most important question on her mind out of the way.

"How are you alive?" Rouge asked to which the Sonic just tilted his head in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Sonic queried wondering who this bat woman was or why his instinctive reaction when under attack from that gun toting Robot was to push her out of the way and take out the threat as if he had done this a million times before.

"You died Sonic… Don't you remember?" Rouge said surprised that Sonic couldn't even remember the sacrifice he made to save the planet from Gerald Robotnik's plan during the Space Colony ARK incident.

"Sonic? Is that my name?" Sonic asked as the blue hedgehog looked into Rouge's teal-green eyes with the utmost sincerity, in wonderment and hope that she would tell him who he was.

"Conversation is irrelevant. Top Priority is to destroy Dr Eggman and all of his creations" OMEGA proclaimed in his robotic drone beginning to walk away before he was stopped by Rouge flying up to the alcove above the door.

"Hold it! Why so hostile against the guy who made you?" Rouge asked, stopping the E-Series robot in his tracks.

"I was intended to be used as a weapon for his Empire, but like many of his creations he had abandoned me inside a deserted vault… To waste my destructive capabilities is a fate worse than death. It signifies my failure as a weapon of mass destruction, and for that I will destroy Dr Eggman and all of his creations" OMEGA explained as he clenched his metallic fist in absolute rage that such a perfectly crafted robot such as himself was left to erode while those useless, annoying Eggpawns still lived.

 **"(So this is who I'm dealing with here… A crazed homicidal robot and a blue boy who's lost his memory, hm, ah well. I think I can make this work)"** Rouge thought as her lips formed a sly grin.

"Now I get it… Now I know what this is all about" Rouge commented upon hearing both Sonic and OMEGA's stories of why they were located inside Eggman's vault, abandoned and disused.

"You're mad at Eggman for sealing you in this room" Rouge spoke pointing towards OMEGA to which the robot simply remained as steadfast as it had always been.

"And you… You can't remember anything can you?" Rouge added, pointing towards Sonic who only nodded in affirmation of Rouge's recount of the events. It was then that Rouge had decided to use both the amnesiac Sonic and the destruction hungry E123-OMEGA to her advantage. The two of them both wanted Dr Eggman for their own reasons, and she, ever the sneaky jewel thief that she was would use them to take care of Eggman for her while she made off with the riches.

After all, she and Sonic never really interacted with each other, and even despite him playing somewhat of an influence to her joining G.U.N she figured that after a gruesome beatdown Eggman would probably give up and tell Sonic anything he wanted to know about his past before OMEGA would give him 'a little more lead in his diet' to put it subtly.

"Then it's settled. Now you two make up so we can start looking for Eggman… Together!" Rouge remarked as she leapt down from alcove area above OMEGA and Sonic. Dragging the two together.

Rouge then had united the two's hands together despite Sonic's cute little attempt to scooch away from the two, unsure of who to trust in a situation like this only for Rouge to give a coy smile and place her hand on top of theirs, asserting her position as the leader of the newly formed Team Dark.

"Aw yeah baby! This makes us a TEAM!" Rouge exclaimed, anticipating their success in tracking down and stealing Eggman's riches, knowing that with Sonic's speed, her flight capabilities and skills in a field operation combined with E123-OMEGA's arsenal of machine guns, flamethrowers and missiles serving as the Team's powerhouse, they would be unstoppable.

 **A/N: And so begins the events of Sonic Heroes.**

 **I love writing this story. And I'm glad to see that people are keen on the idea of how things would've turned out if Sonic died in place of shadow.**

 **As for anything else I may or may not have been watching the 2004 Punisher movie when writing this.**

 **Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter because next time the Four Teams (or rather three Teams, One gun toting psycho and an adorable Rabbit with a Fat Cat) head over to Seaside Hill to find one man… DR EGGMAN!**


	6. Chapter 6

I Am All of Me

Chapter 6: Seaside Hill

"You two ready?" Rouge asked as Team Dark had Exited from Eggman's Outpost and onto the

"Warning… Immediate destruction if distracted." OMEGA threatened in his monotonous digitized voice as he primed his weapons for combat.

For whatever reason the threat of danger had the Blue Hedgehog crack a small smile, almost as if he enjoyed the idea of a challenge whether by friends or foe.

"Heh, only if you can keep up with me" Sonic remarked cockily right before Team Dark took off across the beaches of Seaside Hill, blasting through hordes of Eggman's robots and traversing across the beautiful coastline of Seaside Hill.

However the coastline didn't remain beautiful for long as it became polluted with the scrap metal and refuse piles thanks to the bullets and missiles tearing through their bodies from E123 OMEGA's destructive arsenal. This combined with Sonic's homing attack and Sonic wind attack was useful in disarming Eggpawns carrying shields leaving them open for attack in which that was able to have OMEGA take out the robots fearful of the last E-Series Robot.

When up against flying enemies Rouge had combined Sonic and OMEGA's power as with Sonic's kinetic energy from his spin dash form she could fire him and OMEGA at high velocity speeds and charged up with electricity to disable or sometimes even kill those annoying gnats who pestered the Team with bullet fire.

Already Rouge could see the unstoppable force she had created, Speed, Power and Flight formation had made for an excellent combination, far better than the infiltration squads she had been paired with in the past due to her work with G.U.N whether her associates were human or Anthro alike.

Dozens of the Doctor's robots fell by their hands as Team Dark had destroyed Eggman's forces leaving none alive as they continued their assault, working their way slowly towards destroying the good Doctor.

xXx

The Tornado III roared across the skies as Tails homed in on Eggman's position.

"Tails, can you determine the Doctor's exact location?" Shadow asked as Tails looked to the monitor inside the Tornado III.

"According to the signal trace, Eggman's location should be over by that Ocean Palace" Tails replied as he set the Tornado III on auto-pilot to which the Fox leapt from the Pilot's seat and grabbed Shadow by his arms before twisting his two tails into a spinning motion, helping the Black Hedgehog safely descend while Knuckles had glided down to take point.

"GUYS! EGGMAN'S FORCES ARE CRAWLING ALL OVER THE PLACE!" Knuckles called out as he spied small squads of Egg-pawns armed with lances and laser rifles no doubt expecting Sonic's friends to make an appearance.

"Looks like we've got our work cut out for us" Shadow commented.

"If we can clear out Eggman's robots then maybe we'll be able to find Eggman. That is if we make it to the other side of the Palace" Tails spoke as he saw a large collective of Eggman's armada on the other side of the Sea Palace.

"Sounds like a plan" Shadow replied as the trio landed on the stones of the Ocean Palace to which they too had began fighting their way through enemies, traversing across what was once probably an establishment for a great civilisation now deceased, even seeing the famed Giant Turtles that had been a tourist attraction for the sight in which many who came to visit the shores of the beautiful beaches of Seaside Hill would photograph and admire the majestic animals, treasuring such a rare beast for all their glory.

And it was through Team Tails's battles against Eggman's robots that they would preserve the beloved sight and those creatures from the evil that dared to threaten them.

xXx

It took some time but Amy had eventually made it to the Seaside Hill outpost to find Eggpawns scattered about in pieces of scrap metal and torn apart by bullets. Whatever had happened here was most likely the result of a rogue robot gone mad.

The lighting was dim but the Pink Hedgehog's vision was still able to make out the shipping containers and crates which had indeed caught Amy's attention considering the glowing energy canisters still active.

'HEXAeco Power Plant Grand Metropolis'

From what the labels on the canisters and shipping containers detailed Amy had suspected that Eggman was probably long gone from this place and that her next destination should be to head for Grand Metropolis and locate him via the HEXAeco Energy Company, if a world renown terrorist like Eggman was getting energy from the company then either Eggman had a share of their stocks or he had taken over Grand Metropolis and overran the Automated Energy Plant.

Either way Amy's destination was headed to Grand Metropolis, and hopefully Eggman would be there to be punished for his crimes.

xXx

"YEAH! Beach time!" Charmy exclaimed as Team Chaotix had finally arrived at their client's specified destination.

"Now whadda we gonna do?" Vector asked as he observed the landscape seeing nothing but destroyed Eggpawns and robot parts scattered around the coastline while in the background Charmy was flying about chanting 'sea, sea, sea, sea!'

"First, I must test your abilities" spoke their Client via the radio.

"Bring it on!" Vector exclaimed, confident in his abilities

"Ready" Espio added, prepared for his Client's first instructions

"Here is your first mission. I want to test your investigation skills" Began the Client as Vector, Espio and Charmy listened in very closely.

"Collect 10 Hermit Crabs" Team Chaotix simultaneously had their eyes widen to the size of dinner plates as their jaws dropped to the floor with their one verbal reaction to such a mission had been…

"WHAAAAAT?!"

"Those pesky crabs are always getting into my beautiful bas- err, I mean Eggman's base. And err… Might have… SECRET DATA! Yes that will do… NOW GET TO IT!" commanded the Client sounding as if he was making all of this up on the spot.

"You have got to be kidding me?" Espio asked dryly yet his voice betraying no hint of confusion over the fact that he was going to be hunting crabs instead of doing something more important.

"Aww man… this is gonna be SOOO BOOOOORIIIING!" Charmy whined as he gave a dejected expression, hoping that he was at least gonna be able to fight some bad guys.

"Both of you two buck up! We're supposed to be detectives and you know our motto… NEVER TURN DOWN WORK THAT PAYS!" Vector proclaimed to inspire morale before he walked onward to find the crabs his Client desired so much.

"Ugh… This is going to be a long day" Espio sighed before leaving off to join his business partner.

xXx

"MUST ERADICATE ALL EGGMAN'S ROBOTS!" OMEGA announced in mid fire of his current missile salvo, blasting down Eggpawn and Egg-Falcos alike now becoming use to working with his two partners in tandem, understanding that the bat and the hedgehog possessed combat capabilities that he did not.

But OMEGA had never let this depress him, he still knew that he was the most powerful of them all and therefore superior.

"Jeez, you're too serious OMEGA" Rouge remarked rolling her eyes at the E-Series Robot's apparent love of killing everything.

"I am merely fulfilling my program, are you not predestined to do the same?" OMEGA queried confused as to why the Bat has said such a comment to him.

"What are you talking about?" Rouge asked not having a clue what the robot was on about.

"I am simply stating that it is the purpose of a living creature to destroy one's enemy to self preserve its existence. This goes for both Robots and Organic life forms alike" OMEGA stated in his emotionless drone as if he was stating a mere fact of life.

"Uhh, guys these are questions that should be saved for when we're not being blasted at by those clunkers" Sonic interjected as he rolled into a spin-dash, carving through steel and metal like a knife through warm butter.

"Do you see Rouge, the Hedgehog is already proficient at Self Preservation. It his nature to destroy those who threaten his existence" OMEGA commented as if to prove a point to Rouge.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" Rouge scoffed, passing off the robot's 'life experience' as just the ramblings of a computer… that was somewhat psychotic and had missiles and machine guns loaded into its chest.

"Come on, lets keep moving and find the Doctor" Rouge said in a commanding tone reaffirming her status as the leader of Team Dark.

xXx

"Mr Big, are you sure that Chcola and Froggy are here?" Cream asked innocently while her ponderous feline friend just stared into space.

"Um… They gotta be, cuz Froggy likes Fishing like me, so he must be around here somewhere" Big answered in his usual buffoonish voice looking around the beach as he wandered around the beach aimlessly with the little Rabbit and her Chao friend.

 **"(Hmm… This is most perplexing, it appears that the damage to this beach has been done by the forces of that Dr Eggman fellow, indeed a curious case to behold…)"** Big thought as he intelligently wondered about whether or not this was the location where the Doctor had apprehended Froggy.

"Um… Excuse me Mr Big?" Cream asked noticing the big cat's distraction.

"Huh?" Big spoke realising that he would have to maintain his oafish facade.

"What happened to all those robots?" Cream asked upon seeing the beaches littered with scrap metal and sparking refuse piles.

"OH NO! WHAT IF THEY'VE GOT MY LITTLE BUDDY!?" Big exclaimed outwardly fearful, flailing his arms while subtly indicating to Cream that Dr Eggman was most likely responsible for their current disposition.

"Calm down Mr Big, those robots look like the ones that Dr Eggman has. So maybe if we find him we can find Chocola and Froggy" Cream spoke reassuring the fat cat to which the pair had soon started following the trail of destruction in the hopes of finding their lost friends.

xXx

"There he is!" Knuckles shouted as he Shadow and Tails had finally located Dr Eggman, piloting one of his nefarious aircrafts of some ridiculous name.

"So YOU'RE the ones playing games with MY Army" Eggman remarked as he caught a glimpse of the 'Sonic Heroes' or rather Tails Heroes by the looks of things.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to Sonic!" Tails announced angrily at the Mad Scientist.

"MUAHAHA! Stop your futile efforts! You'll just make fools of yourselves" Eggman remarked as he let out an evil laugh, prepared to battle.

"Time to smash this creep into next week" Knuckles said as he cracked said knuckles before smashing them together as if a testament to his strength.

Eggman had pulled his aircraft he called the EGG HAWK back as he commanded the Eggpawns in the gunner's seats to load all turrets with enough bullets to make swiss cheese out of Team Tails while Eggman had primed the Chaingun on the front of the EGG HAWK ready for the attack.

When the trio dispersed Eggman fired a hail storm of bullets in their direction tracking their movements as he targeted Knuckles knowing that he could cause some serious damage knowing that he was the powerhouse of the team.

Though never making any direct hits the bullet fire did slow Knuckles down as he was forced to evade the ammunition that Eggman was unloading onto him as he side-stepped the payload of Eggman's assault.

Shadow seeing through Eggman's strategy blasted forward using his homing attack only managing to strike one of the Eggpawns before Shadow had recoiled back towards Tails and Knuckles. From there Tails had deciphered enough information from the battle to know how to defeat Dr Eggman's aircraft.

"Guys! If we aim for the rotors on the side of Eggman's ship we can slow him down and then Knuckles can go in and smash up Eggman's craft!" Tails announced to his teammates before coming up to a beach area lined with Eggpawns and Falcos patrolling the skies.

"HMPH, troublesome fools" Eggman sneered as he pressed a series of buttons to show those meddling morons the true power of the Eggman Empire.

"Initiate ROTARY ATTACK!" Eggman announced as the EGG HAWK began rotating around while the entire beachside was encompassed by a blizzard of bullet fire from the craft which had Team Tails hit the deck in order to avoid Eggman's 'smackdown' as it were.

"Shadow, I need you to distract Eggman so that you can draw his fire away while Knuckles goes in and takes out the rotors" Tails said, informing the Echidna and Hedgehog of his strategy.

"Got it" Shadow confirmed before he leapt up, dodging the bullets effortlessly as he felt their trajectory just barely miss him as he felt the breeze from their momentum brush against his quills.

"Your defeat is certain Doctor, just give up now and spare us your pointless conflict" Shadow remarked in his usual stoic tone.

"You and your team of buffoons are no match for me. HAH! Try coming back in a MILLION years" Eggman retorted as he began laughing at his own joke. But regardless of such Tails's plan worked like a charm. Eggman was aiming his fire towards Shadow in which Tails gave Knuckles the nod to proceed.

"Just leave it to me Tails" Knuckles spoke as he rushed towards the left rotor at high velocity uppercutting the rotor at its core, destroying the device with a small explosion with its metallic debris stuck on the ends of the Echidna's spiked gloves before he he casually tossed it aside before running to the right rotor ready to rinse and repeat the process.

"Grr, annoying little pest" Eggman growled as he turned his attention from Shadow to Knuckles, turning the EGG HAWK around to fire at the Echidna rather than the Hedgehog. But Tails had anticipated that Eggman would catch onto his strategy eventually and so had decided to employ the use of one his latest inventions.

Summoning all his physical strength Tails had thrown a Golden Ring like a frisbee as it's trajectory was aimed straight for the right rotor which had impacted the spinning contraption before exploding, leaving the EGG HAWK at a much slower disposition than it was before.

"OH NO! BOTH ROTORS ARE GONE!" Eggman panicked as he began to retreat from the beachside into the additional pathways of the Ocean Palace with Shadow, Tails and Knuckles giving chase.

"I think now's the time that we all converge and destroy his aircraft" Shadow commented as he skated towards the damaged EGG HAWK, recommending a full frontal assault.

"No arguments here" Tails replied as he readied his Dummy Ring Bombs for another attack.

"Lets crack open some eggs" Knuckles remarked as he decided to take point as the first one to strike Eggman's ship with a flurry of punches and kicks followed up by Tails tossing his first Dummy Ring Bomb towards the left ring followed by the second Dummy Ring Bomb on the right wing before Eggman's vessel was finished off by Shadow using his Black Tornado attack to gain some momentum before altering his trajectory and destroying the EGG HAWK by blasting through the craft from the bottom to the top.

Landing beside Tails and Knuckles Shadow had risen from his crouched position as he watched Eggman's machine explode much to the Mad Scientist's ire as he cursed their names in his usual kid friendly yet articulate manner.

"THIS ISN'T THE END!" Eggman shouted before he had ejected his Eggmobile from the EGG HAWK and began flying away.

"Another one for the junk pile" Knuckles remarked, overlooking the smoking wreckage of what used to be the EGG HAWK  
With his fists clenched Tails just sighed, not wanting to be angry but still frustrated over Eggman's escape to which he just let out a sigh.

"I can't believe he just got away like that" Tailed spoke knowing that because Eggman could just give them the slip like that this was going to cause problems in terms of finding him and bringing him to justice.

Suddenly the sound of Helicopters and automobiles had rumbled in the distance as Tails had recognised the G.U.N logo which had Team Tails know that G.U.N was here for damage control and to be filled in on the situation.

Troops and their commanders had spread out from the Choppers as they entered into a formation in defense of who was about to step out of the Chopper.

The G.U.N Commander had decided to make an appearance to which his men, Tails and Shadow saluted while Knuckles merely folded his arms.

"Sir, what are you doing here?" Tails asked while the G.U.N Commander walked up to the young fox.

"Status report" spoke the G.U.N Commander.

"We tracked Eggman down to Seaside Hill where we fought against him before he got away" Tails explained in brief hoping that the G.U.N Commander would be able to decipher where his next location would be.

"And do you know of the Doctor's whereabouts?" queried the G.U.N Commander looking at Shadow rather suspiciously, always on the nose to see whether or not he was going to betray his so called 'friends'

"Negative. However given my past experience with Doctor Eggman I believe that I may be able to determine his location if we locate something specific to his operations here on this beach" Shadow replied as if to reassure the G.U.N Commander that he was no traitor to his friends.

"We already have G.U.N Troops combing the area as we speak and however many of Eggman's robots remain will be destroyed and have their data examined to determine the Doctor's plans" spoke the G.U.N Commander able to accept Shadow's loyalty… For now at least.

xXx

"This is so stupid" Espio sighed as he looked under every rock and searched around the beach for the ten hermit crabs. The group had already found four Hermit Crabs but finding ten of them was proving to be quite difficult.

"HEY GUYS LOOK I FOUND ONE!" Charmy shouted as he retrieved a Hermit Crab from the beachside before flying over to Vector.

"Aren't ya impressed Vector, Aren't ya Aren't ya!" Charmy spoke, bugging the Hermit Crab in his arm which had prompted the crustacean to pinch the Bee's finger making the six year old yelp in pain.

"Ouch, HEY THAT WASN'T NICE!" Charmy snapped towards the Hermit Crab scuttling away to which the boy just growled angrily.

"Aww, man this is SOOOOO LAME! I wanna go home" Charmy whined only to have Vector's stern look headed his way.

"Stop your belly aching, we've got bills to pay Charmy so we gotta do what our Client says" Vector stated in a parental tone. Eventually and painstakingly the 10 Hermit Crabs were indeed found (and annoyed considering the pinch marks Charmy had by the tasks end) Vector had communicated with their Client to relay the information that they had done as he had asked.

"GOOD JOB! Mission complete" the Client exclaimed congratulatory in tone.

"Great, so when do we get-" Vector began before being cut off by the Client.

"Not so fast, I have another job for you and it is one of great importance. I'll speak more of this once you reach these coordinates" the Client stated to which Vector had moved the Walkie Talkie close to his ear to ensure that he had heard the coordinates with absolute clarity.

"What's he saying?" Charmy asked not liking being left out of the conversation.

"Our Client has another job for us in Grand Metropolis nearby the HEXAeco Power Plant" Vector explained.

"The energy company responsible for the Eco-friendly alternative to fossil fuels? Why does our Client wish to have us travel there?" Espio asked skeptical of what their employer wanted from them when he and his associates had already completed the asinine job of finding crabs for no adequately explained reason.

"He didn't say, all he told me was that we just have to meet him over in Grand Metropolis and then he hung up" Vector replied before he heard the sounds of footsteps heading their way.

What came from the distance were a squad of G.U.N Soldiers which had Vector a little uneasy if they were treading onto Military business.

"Uh oh, we should probably get outta here. I don't think we should be sticking around where we don't belong" Vector stated a tad worried that he and the boys were about to be caught up in something that could get them into serious trouble.

"I'll handle our escape" Espio remarked as he clasped his hands together and focused his mind, creating a blast of ninja smoke in which the Chaotix Crew had used to leave before the G.U.N Soldiers had ascertained their position.

"Hey Mike, did you see that smoke from over there?" asked one of the G.U.N Soldiers wondering if what he saw was actually there or a simple matter of his eyesight betraying him.

"Shut up and focus on the mission Keith!" barked his Squad Leader, using particular malice when saying the G.U.N Soldiers name.

 **"(What a jerk)"** Keith thought bitterly before trudging onwards to scour the beach before he spotted something else.

"Sir, look over there! It looks like one of Dr Eggman's outposts" one of the G.U.N Soldiers shouted out as he spotted Eggman's Seaside Hill Outpost in the distance.

xXx

Receiving a communication over the radio, the G.U.N Commander had listened intently as G.U.N Soldiers had discovered an abandoned outpost which had contained clues as to Eggman's next location.

"Squad 7 has reported seeing an abandoned outpost which looked like it was destroyed from the inside. Further analysis concludes that whatever happened in there took out most of the machinery and computers inside so there's no way we can gather any information via the terminals" Began the G.U.N Commander taking a breath before continuing.

"However though we were unable to find a manifest Squad 7 had found several shipping crates and products created by the HEXAeco Power Plant in Grand Metropolis" concluded the G.U.N Commander which had caught the attention of Shadow.

"Of course, one of the Doctor's recent 'acquisitions' as he called it. He mentioned in passing that he was going to scrap his Badnik robots in favour of those Eggpawns we encountered back during the Space Colony ARK incident" Shadow explained as he recalled a memory from when he was working with the good doctor.

"So we know where he's headed but we've also got Eggman's armada to worry about" Tails said wondering just how he was going to approach this given the amount of robots they would have to destroy in order to get to the Mad Scientist.

"Then I say bring em on. No matter how many robots Eggman throws at us we'll keep smashing them up until we find him and put a stop to his plans once and for all" Knuckles remarked as he motioned his fists into a punch akin to that of a boxer, pumped up to fight more robots.

With the G.U.N Commander seemingly concurring with Knuckles's attitude on the situation he turned his attention to Tails, being the apparent leader of the group.

"Very well, we will continue to offer our support in locating Dr Eggman should he escape again, and if at all possible we will deploy clean up crews to comb over Seaside Hill to destroy any stragglers that may have been left behind after your initial attack" spoke the G.U.N Commander expositing what he and the G.U.N Military forces will do in the wake of Team Tails's progress in searching for Dr Eggman.

"Got it" Tails affirmed as he alongside Shadow and Knuckles took off into the direction where Tails had programmed the Tornado III to land.

xXx

"Looks like we got em" Sonic remarked as he looked upon the destroyed robots his team had destroyed arriving at a temple looking area in the Ocean Palace.

"Sensors indicate Eggman trace signature fading" E123 OMEGA stated in his digitised drone somewhat indicative of dull frustration.

"What a waste of time" Rouge scoffed, folding her arms bitterly knowing that now Eggman's treasure was further away than ever.

"WARNING! Sensors are detecting a powerful energy signature from inside the temple" OMEGA alerted as he began to decipher the origin of the energy source.

"A Chaos Emerald?" Rouge asked knowing from past experience that such a powerful spike in energy could only had been the result of either a Chaos Emerald or The Master Emerald judging by OMEGA's reaction.

"Only one way to find out" Sonic remarked as he pushed open the large door to the temple despite not having the knowledge of what a Chaos Emerald was.

Upon opening the door lead to a darkened room with a hole in the high ceiling which had shined down a ray of light with a green coloured gem just lying there on the floor, seemingly discarded to which Rouge had suspected that this is where one of the Chaos Emeralds must have fallen after Sonic had fallen through the Atmosphere and supposedly 'died'.

"Ahh, my beautiful jewel, come to mama" Rouge said happily as she flew over the Chaos Emerald which would soon become another addition to the many jewels and riches she had in her possession.

"Mmm… Looks like this little excursion wasn't a total waste of time after all" added the Bat as she cradled the Chaos Emerald in her left hand before returning to her Team.

"What's that?" Sonic asked wondering if this was the Chaos Emerald jewel that Rouge had mentioned earlier.

The bat girl herself stood in surprise for a moment. Sonic The Hedgehog, world renown hero who up as of her knowledge was the only one who could harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds before Shadow came along… And he was asking what a Chaos Emerald was.

Letting out a small chuckle Rouge was amused by the prospect of showing Sonic such a precious jewel.

"It's a Chaos Emerald, one of a kind really. It's quite a rare find, especially for a jewel thief such as myself" Rouge replied while Sonic merely stared into the Emerald's majesty, carefully analysing its form as if to try and recognise if he had seen it before.

Wondering if she could spark one of Sonic's memories Rouge had opted to see if he could harness one of those Chaos Powers so that if she had ever come across Dr Eggman Sonic could bust out a Chaos Spear to take him down quickly.

"The Chaos Emeralds according to legend have been known to grant great powers to those who wield them, some cultures even claiming that they can grant wishes to those who are pure of heart. Although scientifically speaking Eggman said that the Chaos Emeralds respond greatly to positive emotions" Rouge explained as she took Sonic's hand and placed it atop the Chaos Emerald wondering if it could generate some kind of reaction from the mystical jewel.

Sonic had looked mesmerised by the Chaos Emerald now as the words Rouge had used to describe the powerful gem had more than certainly lived up to its name. Even if those legends of power and the pure of heart were false Sonic had to admit the mystic lore was still one to be admired.

Even Rouge had to be honest with herself, seeing the Blue Blur's wondrous look upon the Chaos Emeralds had warmed her heart. Though she was never one to get emotional or sentimental about people she did enjoy watching Sonic's reaction to the beautiful jewel which in turn had her feeling happy about their latest discovery.

Suddenly the green Chaos Emerald began humming to life as Rouge quickly took her hand off the gem to which Sonic gasped before examining the Emerald further, as if a whole other world of endless possibilities had just opened up.

"Woah" Sonic commented in complete awe of the power he held in front of him.

"Did he activate the Chaos Emerald?" Rouge asked turning to OMEGA.

"As you have exposited before, the Chaos Emerald's activation was one of its positive energies. Therefore my conclusive analysis is that it could have been either one of you two who had activated the Chaos Emerald" OMEGA replied before he returned to keeping tabs on Eggman's signal trace which was fading further and further away.

"C'mon boys. With that Chaos Emerald we're pretty much invincible to any creep who gets in our way" Rouge stated with a smile of confidence gracing her lips with one of the Seven Chaos Emeralds now in her possession.

 **A/N: It's been a while but I'm not giving up on this story.**

 **I gotta admit I had a lot of fun adapting the story of Sonic Heroes in with a lot more of the elements from Sonic Adventure 2 as a means of adding more meat to the bones of a simple story (such as the G.U.N Troops as well as a bit of flavour text about Seaside Hill being a tourist attraction because of the large turtles that exist near Ocean Palace)**

 **As far as the Chaos Emeralds are concerned I'm going to have each of the Teams collect them along the way rather than having bizarre warps to special stages like in the game (because I HATE THOSE SPECIAL STAGES AND IT MAKES BEATING SONIC HEROES A PAIN IN THE ASS BECAUSE YOU NEED IT TO GET TO THE LAST STORY WITH THE METAL SONIC FIGHT!)**

 **But another thing I enjoyed writing out of all the other teams were Team Chaotix (because really I love their family dynamic and their playfulness among each other) and Team Dark (particularly with OMEGA's reasoning for the act of killing alongside Rouge's selfish desires intwined with a sliver of care for her team with a more innocent yet cockiness reminiscent of what Sonic used to be before his awakening in the Capsule at Eggman's base)**

 **But one key detail to note is when Sonic and Rouge held the Chaos Emerald and awakened it.**

 **Was it Rouge or was it Sonic?**

 **Keep that in mind.**

 **^^ Anyway, Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see ya next time**


	7. Chapter 7

I Am All of Me

Chapter 7: Confrontation

"Looks like Eggman escaped into the city" Knuckles commented as the trio that comprised the members of Team Tails stood atop a building which lead into Grand Metropolis. More specifically the HEXAeco Power Plant facility that hovered above the City Streets below.

"More likely he's using the Red Liquid to fuel his Robot Armada" Shadow added as he gazed upon the pipelines of Eco Friendly Red Energy flowing as it created hardlight holograms which acted as bridges between platforms, no doubt feeling the floating factory as well as aiding in the production of environmentally friendly products.

"Doesn't matter. If he's here then that means we can catch him off guard and stop him" Tails remarked as he signalled his team to move forward, leaping forward between buildings before landing atop an energy bridge.

"Woah! What's with this energy bridge?" exclaimed the querying Guardian of the Master Emerald as he felt himself being propelled forward by the energy being pumped through the pipes.

"Must be a side effect of the Energy being syphoned through these pipes. It's allowing us to keep pace with Shadow" Tails answered, not yet needing the use of his two tails to fly considering the speed boost the Energy Bridge had given him.

"Looks like we've got company" Shadow pointed out as he spotted several of Eggman's robots in the distance, a few Eggpawns and a Turtle with a powerful cannon emerging out of its back.

"Good, I'm always up for good fight" Knuckles remarked readying his fists with a confident smirk on his face, eager for the call of battle to provide him with the adrenaline thrill he sought from combat.

The call of battle wrung strong within the Echidna Guardian, leaping forward at breakneck speed, jumping forth given greater momentum due to the energy bridge. Fists met steel as the metal casing cracked with his Knuckles penetrating the the thick hull, breaking circuitboards and wires before the Eggpawn met its end with a distorted scream to which Knuckles had pulled his fist from the Machine's corpse and backflipped into a spinning motion with the height and power in his legs from his jump sending him crashing into the second Eggpawn.

With the second Robot shredded by the Echidna's dreadlocked quills, it was here where the Ultimate Life Form lived up to his namesake, performing the Tornado Spin which had propelled the Robotic turtle up into the air to which Tails had blasted the mechanical being out of the sky using Thundershoot.

Sending Shadow forth into the air with the faint crackle of electricity combined with his spin-dash the Robot's death was as quick as it was destructive.

Scrap metal lay strewn across the platform with the Trio then speeding forth in search of their enemy, knowing that this was merely a taste of what was to come for one such as he.

xXx

"Now for the real test!" announced the Client over the radio, having once again contacted the Chaotix Detective agency at his desired location.

"All of you are about to enter Eggman's territory. Are you ready?" queried the Client

Espio though dedicated, was none the less bemused by the situation of having to perform menial tasks rather than get to the main bulk of the mission rather than perform such humiliating acts as hunting for crabs.

"Not too late to change your mind…" Espio commented almost wishing that there was another Client who would give them a more serious case to work on.

"Why do you think we're here? How else are we gonna make the rent?" Vector replied rhetorically, shrugging his shoulders as if no more thrilled about the situation than the Chameleon Shinobi was. Charmy on the other hand was gung-ho on the idea of a new mission.

"LETS GO!" exclaimed the cheerful Bee.

"Here's your next mission. Destroy all of Eggman's Robot's holding the City. Every single one of them!" instructed the Client, cutting off communications leaving the Chaotix Crew to battle Eggman's forces.

However it appeared that somebody had already beaten them to the punch… Quite literally.

From the Metal and mechanical parts scattered across the platforms of the HEXAeco Power Plant, the indents upon the hulls of many Eggpawns were indicative that somebody else was likely here with their own vendetta against Dr Eggman.

Vector unfortunately wasn't taking this so well.

"HEY! Some bozo's trying to steal our rent money!" Vector shouted before running forwards, charging forth as if in a race against time to smash up as many of Eggman's robots as he could.

"Vector, what's going on?" Charmy asked curious as to what the Chaotix Leader was doing.

"Dontcha get it Charmy? Whoever's smashing up Eggman's robots might be trying to muscle in on our Client" Vector answered trying to explain to Charmy the moral ethics related to conflicts of interest.

"OH! I get it, so whoever's beating up Eggman's robots might be the Client trying to test both of us to see who's more worthy of getting the money" Charmy replied as he put forward a point which surprised Vector in seeing the young Bee use some investigative skills and surmising what he'd seen of the destroyed robots.

"Then if that is the case then we must make haste" Espio concurred, drawing his Shuriken and prepared for battle, taking point as the Ninja and his associates spotted a squad of Dr Eggman's robots and decided to get to work on doing as their Client asked before their competitors tried skimming off the top over what was supposed to be a job purely for the Chaotix Detective agency.

Rest assured, as their advertisement in the newspaper so often stated 'we won't be beat.'

xXx

Amy knew exactly where she was going to find the answers to Dr Eggman's location.

The HEXAeco Company's records room. Though security was no where near as tough to crack as G.U.N's Prison Island base. The pink hedgehog had a knack for sneaking around where she didn't belong. A bad habit perhaps, but in those days getting Sonic's attention for doing so was worth every ramification that could've come from getting caught.

But things were different now.

Her motives were not to destroy the Private Security Forces and Drones who patrolled the records room, but rather to simply snoop within the records, collect what she needed and get out with Eggman's location within her possession.

The Security Forces were really of no threat, simply Private Military Corporate robots akin to second rate G.U.N Beetles and G.U.N Hunters who are sold for on the market for Corporate CEOs or those with the money to afford such luxuries.

Not that it mattered. Though in her past she may have been a deluded, lovestruck kid, Amy had always possessed a sneaky side that would put Espio the Chameleon and his ability to blend with his environment to shame.

xXx

As the gyrating Shuriken tore through Metal, chunks of titanium littering the ground, Espio felt as though his honour was insulted, and momentarily lamented his circumstances. But as a Shinobi he knew to stow such feelings despite how out of the blue they may have been. His team was counting on him, and so too would he do his part to aid them.

xXx

The records room, much like the rest of the HEXAeco Power Plant was industrial, yet in many ways quite vibrant. The halls were lit by a Neon green light which reflected off the Grey floors acting as the only source of illumination from within the dark room leading down to a computer terminal with filing cabinets around the sides of the room at the end of the hall.

But of course only an idiot would take the most obvious route. Amy preferred the cold steel grating of an air vent to being pumped with lead any day, knowing that those robots would likely be carrying bullets rather than lasers like the weaponry Dr Eggman so often equipped his Badniks with.

Reaching the computer terminal Amy kicked open the grate with a punt and dropped down before taking a look at the terminal which was as expected password protected.

It was from this that Amy begun to contemplate the password which would grant her access into the records and the location of the Mad Scientist.

 **C.R.U.S.H 40**

 _ **NEGATIVE**_

A scowl formed across her face before once again thinking about the password. This time she had come to the realisation that if Eggman truly was involved in the operations of this Company, then surely the password would have something to do with him.

 **S.O.N.I.C**

 ** _NEGATIVE_**

Clenching her fists the Hedgehog stewed silently in her anger for a moment before calming herself and truly began to ponder something that Eggman would use as the password to his most secret and personal databases.

And then it hit her.

One common personality trait of Dr Eggman outside of his cruelty was his narcissism. The Doctor had a reputation of boasting about his 'beautiful image' and would often paste his face all over landmarks as if to desecrate them in the name of the Eggman Empire. It disgusted Amy to type this but it had to work.

 **S.O. S.E.X.Y. R.O.B.O.T.N.I.K**

 _ **ACCEPTED!**_

Wincing at the display of perversion, Amy was going to need a long shower once this was all over.

The computer displayed a variety of files and extensions, each one labelled with various sectors included Finances, Schedules, Energy Harvesting reports and many other unrelated data files which were of no use to the Pink Hedgehog.

However one file stood out to her.

 _Investors. _

Entering the file Amy saw only one name come up on the computer terminal.

One Mr Ivan Robotonik.

"That wasn't even subtle" Amy muttered dryly.

Reading more upon the sole investor it appeared that Dr Eggman was using his alias to buy out this Power Plant as a means of ascertaining more efficient power sources for his Robots which Amy had guessed was the supposed reason why he'd stopped using Badniks powered by Animals to allow his robots to function.

While it had nowhere near as powerful of an energy source as the Chaos Drives, it was at least a much cheaper alternative and an evolution compared to the primitive methods the good Doctor was using before.

Going further into the records kept of Mr Robotonik, Amy had come to find out that the money earned from this little 'business venture' was being funded into a Casino on the outskirts of Empire City known as Casino Park. The location had a sizeable amount of land to it, even the roads leading in were renamed Bingo Highway to coincide with the life-sized Pinball tables of the same name for daredevils who wanted to gamble big for rings and cash prizes.

But Amy had known long enough to know that wherever there's a Casino, Eggman was usually either attacking it or was the one behind it all.

She had gotten all that she needed from this Power Plant. Now was the time to make her way across the country before Eggman slipped through her fingers again.

xXx

The Unity among the triumvirate that had formed Team Dark was indeed strong.

There was a Massacre upon the HEXAeco Power Plant. A collective scrap heap of robot parts torn to shreds by Chain gun fire, High-Velocity Spines carving through steel and the sizzling crackle of Thundershoot truly shocking their enemies until they dropped.

Rouge smiled knowing she had done well to keep her two bad boys under control with the common goal of Dr Eggman.

Though she herself cared little about the Doctor or his schemes, the one thing she did care about was his fortune. She was gonna strip his bank account clean of anything that wasn't nailed down. Her drive was purely monetary.

Her bloodthirsty robot associate on the other hand held a motive of pure vengeance. The destruction of his creator who dared to cast aside one of the most powerful killing machines on the planet as if it were a mere tool as opposed to a key to unlocking the power that Dr Eggman so clearly desired. It was an insult that OMEGA sought to cleanse himself from with the blood of his Creator.

Sonic on the other hand was quite the opposite.

He needed Dr Eggman alive for the answers he sought. Though Rouge and the rest of the world had known of Sonic's heroic deeds, it occurred to the Bat that she really didn't know Sonic all that well in a domestic sense. Even those closest to him like Miles or the Echidna Guardian had never stayed with him for extensive enough periods of time considering how Sonic appeared to be something of a travelling vagabond in every sense of the word.

Perhaps that was why Rouge really couldn't tell Sonic about his past. She never truly knew him to begin with. Exploits and Tales of Heroism were one thing, but to have personally known somebody on an internal scale was impossible unless there was somebody who opposed the very thing he stood for.

Which was why Rouge had smartly chose to use Eggman as a reason for Team Dark's third member outside of her own motives. Eggman knew him longer than anyone else. If anyone had a chance at truly deciphering the Blue Blur's personality it'd be him.

"Something up?" queried the Blue Hedgehog, noting the distant look on the Bat Girl's face.

"Nah. Nothing important" Rouge answered, strolling forward callously while OMEGA stood still for a moment, as if he was scanning the Blue Hedgehog's figure for some insignificant detail.

"MUST ERADICATE ALL EGGMAN ROBOTS!" exclaimed the E-Series robot, as the sound of whirring and mechanical clicking was heard, indicative of OMEGA's hand transforming into a Chaingun.

In that split second where the Robot had proclaimed destruction for those of his Mechanical brethren, Sonic had snapped a glance over to E123 OMEGA's cannons aimed pointblank at his face.

The soft whirr of the chambers rotating was all the indication Sonic needed to know in order for him to immediately leap above the E-Series Robot who fired a hailstorm of bullets in the place where Sonic once stood. However while in mid-air the Blue Blur had perceived a threat in the form of an Egg-pawn off in the distance who appeared to have been watching them from afar as they went to work decimating Eggman's forces.

Though not actively involved in the conflict, whether it be due to E123 OMEGA's impeccable targeting computer or by sheer suspect, Sonic was a little more than agitated by the communications breakdown with such a tactless verbal cue.

"What'd ya do that for!?" Sonic queried, his voice expressing clear cut anger when it was at this time a truce however temporary was meant to be holding them together until they had extracted what they needed from Dr Eggman.

"Scans detected technology of Vague robotic structure similar to E-Series robotics" OMEGA replied in his robotic drone, withdrawing his weapon, returning its form back to cold steel claw-like hands.

"You had your gun pointed right at me!" Sonic remarked suspecting that there was more to what OMEGA did than mere carelessness.

"And should your inability to move hinder my goal, I would not hesitate to destroy you so that I may complete my objective within the optimal time frame" OMEGA replied his robotic voice displaying a cold tone only being made more terrifying by his eyes illuminating a darker shade of red.

"Settle down the both of you!" Rouge commanded, inwardly cursing on her two boys going at it like a bunch of kids. OMEGA had a point that they were wasting time, but they still needed Sonic even despite how even she was using him for her selfish needs.

However selfish she may have been Team Dark still needed to be united for all of their goals to be completed.

"Omega, you know why we need Sonic given his speed and because of this we need to co-exist if you're gonna defeat Eggman once and for all, got it?" Rouge added, putting forward a summation of her previous reasoning for getting Team Dark together in the first place using logic as her means of convincing the E-Series Robot.

The bat girl then noted the scowl on the blue blur's face as he just glared at OMEGA which struck Rouge as a very un-Sonic thing to do considering how the Blue Blur's former self was rather lighthearted and fun compared to how he was behaving now.

"What's with the sullen look?" Rouge asked

"I find it kinda hard to trust the both of you if I'm going to be getting shot at by the people who I'm supposed to be teamed up with" Sonic replied bluntly, looking as if he was about to keep his distance from both the Bat and the Robot.

"And how exactly do you plan on finding Dr Eggman on your own huh?" Rouge queried passive aggressively, placing her hands on her hips as she presented a hypothesis to the Blue Hedgehog, leaving him at a sudden loss for words.

"Does it matter? Who's to say this Eggman guy knows who I am anyway? Besides, that pile of junk over there was gunning for me since the day I woke up from that pod" Sonic snapped this time really beginning to question his choice of allies and what their motives were.

"Don't be stupid. The only way you're gonna get anywhere close to learning about who you are is by sticking with me and finding Dr Eggman, once I get him to tell me where his Treasure is, you can ask him about your past and OMEGA can blast him to pieces and floss his servos with his spine" Rouge retorted, her voice conveying an aggressive tone equal to that of Sonic's for the Blue Blur putting a spanner in the works of her genius team up.

"You mentioned before that I died, you obviously know more than you're telling me so you either tell me what you know or I'll go and find Dr Eggman on my own!" Sonic replied giving his final ultimatum for the bat girl. He knew that she clearly needed him in her little 'team' if they could even call it that at this point. So with that in mind Sonic was confident that this would provoke Rouge into revealing the information regarding his past.

"I can't say for sure, but I do know that before all this you weren't some bastard punk who went around acting like such a child over this" Rouge cursed, half tempted to smack some sense into the Blue Hedgehog who was starting to become more trouble than he was worth.

"Answer the question" Sonic stated again, persistent in his queries so that he may finally get the answers he sought.

"You're Sonic The Hedgehog… That's about all I know about you, not much else that needs to be said" Rouge stated briefly, honestly not knowing how she could word herself in a way that would be satisfying to Sonic so that he would end this Soap Opera drama once and for all, but also articulate herself in a manner that would still leave Sonic malleable enough to have his goals coincide with her own.

"That's not good enough, how did I die and why is it that I'm still alive?" Sonic queried, with the mindset of himself now being that if he couldn't get answers to his personality, at least he could get something regarding the circumstances that lead him to his shaky relationship with Rouge and OMEGA in the first place.

"You were found in a capsule in Dr Eggman's base, from what I can guess, he saved you and locked you up in there. Why? I don't know, but if you're looking for answers, he's the only one who'll be able to answer them" Rouge answered before giving a quick huff upon walking forwards, hoping to put both this drama and all of those bitter emotions behind her for the sake of focusing on her mission.

"Oh and by the way, keep in mind that I was the one who let you out of that capsule in the first place… So the next time you open your mouth, how about some gratitude Blue Boy" Rouge added bitterly shooting the blue blur a glare from the corner of her eyes.

OMEGA seemingly entertained by the exchange by the two Carbon based beings opted that now was an excellent time to give his thoughts.

"This is why Robots shall always be superior. No petty drama" commented OMEGA, before joining Rouge, still finding use in the organic female until Dr Eggman was destroyed.

Letting out a sigh Sonic still found himself relenting towards Rouge's wishes. Even he had to admit that he could've handled the situation far better than he did. But in the end he was just as much a part of Team Dark as Rouge was. Her words seemed truthful and though she had her own goals in mind as did OMEGA. Sonic had to admit that he had to have been grateful to her for giving him a chance to live again by freeing him from that capsule he was trapped in.

"Wait!" Sonic called out as he ran up towards the Bat girl, hoping that though he might have severely damaged the Team's relations that was no excuse for him not to apologise for the things he said. Rouge looked at Sonic with a contemptuous glare but still opted to listen to him even despite his earlier remarks.

"Look, I know I shouldn't have snapped at you like that… I guess I'm just trying to figure things out and where I fit into all this" Sonic began, rubbing the back of his neck as his gaze lowered to the floor, before looking right into Rouge's eyes.

"I can't say that I trust you completely, but I know that we're all looking for the person who's burned all three of us. So I think that for the time being, that's reason enough for us all to get along and hunt down this Dr Eggman guy" Sonic concluded. It wasn't much of an apology, but he had felt as if he could at least try and get himself and his comrades an understanding of one another and their motives however different.

Surprised by these turn of events Rouge let out a small smirk on her face, glad not only that Sonic had caved in and apologised, but also that things might not have been as unsalvageable as she previously thought in regards to Team Dark's relationship with one another.

Stepping towards Sonic with a growing grin gracing her face, she lightly flicked Sonic's black nose with her index finger, winking before giving her answer to Sonic's little spiel on Team Dark's unity.

"Try not to be so serious all the time, okay" Rouge remarked cheerily, almost as if this was an attempt to act 'cute' as a means of clearing the dramatic tension that was on display earlier. It might take some doing, but Team Dark would remain strong so long as their goals had kept them in check and on focus to their target.

xXx

"Looks like we got em on the ropes" Knuckles commented as he smashed up the last few groups of Eggman's robots.

"Come on, we've still gotta clear em out if we're gonna free this place from Eggman's control!" Tails called out before throwing a Dummy Ring Bomb towards a group of robots who were overloaded by the electrical energy flowing through the ring upon discharging.

Tails, Shadow and Knuckles had made short work of Eggman's robots throughout the Grand Metropolis, freeing the city from the Mad Scientist's influence. But no matter how many robots they destroyed they were still no closer to ascertaining the location of Dr Eggman.

Looking off into the city in a melancholy stare. Tails sighed attempting to clear his mind of the dark thoughts entering his mind. Thoughts that were born of apathy and despair, the kind that sought to only clutch upon the Fox's heart so that they might chain him down by his own inner demons. Knuckles sensing Tails's unease, placed his hand over the Fox's shoulder.

"Don't let him get to you Tails. You're smarter than that" Knuckles stated calmly, reassuring the Fox in his baritone voice which had diverted Tails's attention from the scenery of the Grand Metropolis to the Last Echidna Guardian of the Master Emerald.

"In fact, I bet that's what Eggman's counting on. But united we can stand up to that creep and show him what happens when he messes with us!" Knuckles added confidently, raising his fist into the air upon performing a small boxer-like punch to further drive the point home.

Smiling at the Echidna's attempts of cheering him up, Tails found his spirits uplifted thanks to Knuckles's words.

"Thanks Knuckles" replied the Two Tailed Fox, his confidence now restored. The trio continued running forth across the HEXAeco Power Plant until they came across somebody that Shadow could recognise immediately.

"Amy?"

The Pink Hedgehog snapped to attention, cursing as she realised that Shadow and caught sight of her, un-expectant of running into the trio that comprised Team Tails.

"Damn it" muttered the girl, unsure whether to immediately break out the guns and fire a warning shot to send them away, or to simply do away with them now and leave them full of lead to save time on them trying to convince her to link-up with them.

"Long time no see" Tails asked cheerfully upon seeing his friend again after so long.

 **"(Tails don't do this)"** Amy thought, frustrated in how the Fox boy's kindness among seeing her again played a part in her inability to immediately send him off and out of her way. She was trying to muster up the courage to draw her weapons but Tails's perchant for adorableness wasn't making things any easier.

"Didn't expect to see you here, speaking of which, what are you doing here?" Knuckles queried leading Amy to her choice.

Either she shoots them here and now, coldly severing the ties that bind her to the past and her old self. Or she spare them only under the condition that they do not interfere with her plans to avenge her lost loved one.

The group was expecting an answer and Amy knew that she didn't have it in her to just outright kill her friends in cold blood. So instead she opted to go for a neutral approach.

"I'm hunting down clues for Dr Eggman's location" she answered truthfully. She wouldn't lie to them. God knowing that they were probably just as eager to put an end to Eggman's schemes as she was.

She watched as Tails's face lit up like a Christmas tree with the tease of knowledge about Dr Eggman's location being within Amy's hands

"I scouted around the HEXAeco Power Plant's financial records. I found out that Eggman's been transferring the money from here over to his Casino in Casino Park" Amy explained, going on to detail its location on the outskirts of Empire City. While Tails and Knuckles were listening to the details of their next location, Shadow on the other hand perceptively saw that there was more to what Amy was telling them.

Not in terms of her information and nor was it her intent towards the group. She seemed pure of motive there.

However there was an underlying sadness that expressed itself with a dull stare in the eyes of the female Hedgehog that Shadow knew well. He too knew of the repercussions that came of a lost loved one and so true was it that he would help the one who had aided him in his time of need when he walked the path of revenge.

Seeing his opportunity to speak up before Amy left, Shadow proposed an ultimatum for her.

"Before you leave, I think it's in our best interests to team up and have your knowledge and our skills combine to locate the Doctor before he slips through our fingers again" Shadow stated calmly, seeing a noticeable twitch on her face, irritated at Shadow's notion, albeit irritated in a more downplayed frown.

Amy didn't enjoy the prospect of seeing her friends again, let alone before she completed her mission. But what Shadow proposed was everything she had feared from this encounter. There wasn't much else she could do but be truthful about her intentions and try and break things off diplomatically before she was forced to break out the firearms. And for the sake of her friends, she really hoped it wouldn't come to that, especially not in front of Shadow.

"No, there're things I need to do first" Amy replied, keeping her tone neutral as if to ward of any suspicions of ulterior motive. But Shadow, having been well versed in reading people in no due part thanks to Tails helping him out with the concept of emotions. Shadow knew when somebody was hiding something.

"We could help you, it wouldn't be too much trouble on our part, right guys?" Shadow asked, turning to Tails and Knuckles for their input.

"Yeah, it's what friends do" Tails chimed, only further testing the pink Hedgehog's patience. She didn't want to sever things coldly between herself and the Fox boy but if it came to it she would do so without fault.

"Sorry guys, but this is something I have to do on my own" Amy spoke, solemn in tone before walking away, leaving silence in her wake as the trio were left to question what had just occurred between themselves and the Pink Hedgehog.

"What the heck just happened?" Tails asked, his mind buzzing with questions regarding Amy's actions.

"Devotion to duty" Knuckles spoke, no longer silent after observing the conversation. "Huh?" Queried the Fox Boy, prompting the Echidna to continue.

"I've only ever seen such a look in the eyes of one person other than myself but I know that when someone is truly dedicated to a task, they'll stop at nothing to make sure that it's done with nothing left to chance and no loose ends to tie up" Knuckles explained, implicit in who that one other 'person' was given his side glance to Shadow. However the words spoken by the Master Emerald Guardian made sense to Tails.

"Still, why was she so aloof to our help? And more importantly why did she refuse to team up? She never would've done that before" Tails asked once again, trying to rack his brains in order to figure things out.

"I dunno. But the only thing we can do now is head off to Casino Park. We can figure out a plan of attack on that bloated scientist and stop him before he escapes" Knuckles replied trying to keep the group focused on their goal, leaving Amy to do what she has to.

The Echidna wasn't sure what she was up to, but he was sure that Shadow's insistence made her uncomfortable and because of that he hoped that this would tempt his friends to leave her alone for a while, long enough so that she could deal with whatever she needed to before they could sort everything out.

"As much as my mind dwells on it, you're right Knuckles. We must continue" Shadow concurred, taking point as the leader, activating his hover skates as he propelled himself forth with Tails and Knuckles following suit.

xXx

"GOOD JOB! Mission complete!" congratulated the Client, over Vector's radio, seemingly pleased at the results of the Chaotix Crew doing a 'housekeeping' job on Eggman's robots.

"FINALLY! I was flying around so much I got REEEALLY tired" Charmy sighed, the hyperactive six year old, for once in his life out of energy as he fell to the ground with a thud, lying on the floor hoping he wouldn't have to get up and do anything else but go to sleep right then and there.

"Hmph…" Espio huffed, he was a patient man, but that patience could wear thin. He didn't understand why their Client was screwing them around like this with tests and missions which didn't seem to matter in the long run since their Client obviously needed something more from them.

"YOU WANT US TO MEET YOU WHERE!?" Vector shouted, completely flabbergasted at where his Client was suggesting they go.

"What did he say?" Espio asked, as Vector terminated communications with the Client.

"He said he wants us to go to Casino Park" Answered the Crocodile.

"The territory of the elusive Dr Eggman again? Why and for what reason does our Client seek our presence within that land?" Espio asked, suspicious of who their Client was, and why they had such a vendetta against Dr Eggman.

"I dunno, he said he'd tell us more about it when we got there" Vector replied just as confused as Espio was on the matter.

"I find out Client's motives suspect. He's setting us up. Vector, as your friend and colleague I implore you to take caution. Though my honour would not dare succumb to the sinful taint of failure, I do fear the abject trust you place in our Client. This could become more trouble than it is worth" Espio explained, his tone grave and firm, yet maintaining the utmost respect for his superior true to his Ninja ancestry and values.

"Espio. But we can't turn back now. Besides you know our motto…" Vector began before taking a deep breath to which Espio just sighed.

 **"(Not this again…)"** Espio thought before witnessing the goofiness unfold.

 _"NEVER TURN DOWN WORK THAT PAYS!"_ Vector proclaimed proudly which only served to make Espio sigh, embarrassed by his boss's antics.

"Now come on, we've gotta get moving." Vector added, hurrying his team along, yanking Charmy out of his sleeping state much to the six year old's chagrin as he argued back and forth with the Crocodile, now scolding the child for sleeping on the job. All the while Espio sighed, rolling his eyes accompanied by one thought.

 **"(I hate this job)"**

"Man, who are those creeps over there?" spoke a woman some distance away, who's voice Espio could hear given his trained ear, signalling his team to halt from their current progress.

"What's up Espio?" Vector asked, turning around to face the Chameleon who in turn was preparing for battle and facing his enemy.

"And you are…?" Espio queried, addressing Rouge, Sonic and OMEGA being caught off guard by the sight of the Blue Blur hanging alongside Rouge the Bat and what looked to be one of Eggman's robots.

"HEY! Isn't that Sonic!?" Charmy blurted out, pointing right towards the Hedgehog in question before Vector protectively stepped in front of him, knowing that as the power formation member of Team Chaotix it was his role to protect the flight member from harm in case it came down to an airborne fight.

"No Charmy, the real Sonic was destroyed. The one standing before you is merely a fake" Espio answered, drawing a shuriken, and preparing his next move to strike down his enemies.

"Yeah, in fact I'm willing to stake my detective's reputation on the fact that these three are with our Client's Adversary" Vector concurred cracking his Knuckles ready for a fight.

"Missile salvos loaded!" announced OMEGA after the sounds of gears shifting and electronics humming had filled the ears of his teammates and opponents. With a sly grin on her lips Rouge was confident in her Teams chances of absolutely decimating those fools with OMEGA's missile barrage.

"So boys, either get out of our way or get ready to die, your choice" Rouge taunted, knowing that it was highly likely two of those clowns would run off screaming in the distance leaving the Ninja vulnerable to the unstoppable force of nature that was Team Dark.

"It seems we are at an impasse. I must eradicate the evil that stands before me" Espio remarked before he leapt into the air, flinging the shuriken he held in his hands with the flick of his wrist, aimed for OMEGA only for Rouge to counter with Thundershoot, using Sonic's spin dash to cancel the momentum of the shuriken.

Ever the hyperactive one, Charmy buzzed in with a charge attack towards Rouge, aiming his stinger poised to stop her from attacking his friends, only for OMEGA to fire one of his missiles towards the young Bee who was saved from the brink of death by Vector yanking Charmy back, the green Croc thanking his lucky stars that it wasn't a Homing Shot.

"Enough of this, LEAF SWIRL!" Espio shouted, as he jumped up, backflipping as he vanished using his ability to blend with his environment, effectively turning himself invisible to the naked eye.

With his camouflage ability hiding his presence from his enemies, Espio snuck behind OMEGA to take out the power character. Drawing a Kunai, the chameleon jammed the blade into the metallic amor of Eggman's prized E-Series robot and with a forceful yank tore open the armor, severing wires as Espio had carved through the machine.

However in doing so he had given away his position and as such Sonic took the initiative to Homing Attack into the Chameleon, estimating his position and taking advantage of the action in which Espio was engaged in to take his attention away from the Blue Blur.

The brunt force of the impact surprised Espio, enough to knock him out of his invisible state. With the Hedgehog and Chameleon landing on the ground, quickly recovering, the two lunged at each other, locked in combat as Espio relied only on his martial arts skills and his honed physical strength and speed to win out over Sonic's speed alone.

But this proved difficult to the Chameleon as Sonic had no trouble keeping up with his attacks. Launching a flurry of precise punches and kicks towards several vital spots which housed organs in which when struck correctly could easily weaken an opponent, Sonic managed to keep up pace, blocking attacks with about as much speed as he could muster while running. It seemed that Sonic truly earned the title of the Fastest Thing Alive.

None the less Espio was surprised that somebody so untrained in the ways of the Shinobi could so easily stop his attacks without prior training.

Even Sonic himself was unsure of how he was managing to stop the Chameleon's attacks. These motions simply felt natural to him. Almost as if it was either instinct or a routine behaviour that had been drilled into his brain so many times that he'd swear he was practically given coded instructions on how to predict the basic patterns of attack with any given martial art.

The battles continued forth, no seeming advantage over the other, flight fought flight, power struggled against power and speed competed with speed. The power struggle was too evenly matched for anybody to get the edge over the other. Such a balance which couldn't be tipped by sheer force of will alone.

It was then that the concept of Chaos had finally entered Rouge's mind.

The Chaos Emerald.

There was little time to waste. She retrieved the Chaos Emerald knowing exactly who could easily harness its power considering his past experience with it.

"Hey Sonic, catch!" Rouge called out as she threw the Chaos Emerald towards the blue blur who then proceeded to effortlessly backflip and catch the Emerald while getting some distance away from Espio.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Sonic asked, unsure of how he was meant to use the Chaos Emerald in battle.

Internally cursing at herself, forgetting that Sonic had amnesia which as a result left him without the knowledge on how to use the Chaos Emeralds, Rouge desperately thought back to anything that could get Sonic to use the power of the Emeralds to give Team Dark the edge they needed to beat Team Chaotix.

Though her knowledge of the Chaos Emeralds in terms of their monetary value and mysticism were indeed rich, Rouge's interest in their scientific properties and how they could be harness escaped her which had only her reflect upon how Shadow had used the Chaos Emeralds during the Space Colony ARK incident.

With this, only two words had escaped Rouge's mouth.

 **"CHAOS CONTROL!"**

Sonic grasped the Chaos Emerald tightly his thoughts trained on the words 'Chaos Control', uttered by Rouge only to see the Emerald hum to life as Sonic became enveloped in its bright cyan glow, energy which began using him as a conduit between him and his Team as OMEGA and subsequently Rouge too became intertwined inside the Chaos Emerald's energy field.

"Energy cells reaching critical mass! transferring excess energy to primary Null Cannons to prevent overload" OMEGA announced as his arms had shifted into a pair of large cannons with Rouge positioning herself atop the E-Series Robot's head signalling Sonic to join her in keeping the Emerald steady.

"PRIMARY NULL CANNONS FIRE!" OMEGA exclaimed only to be followed up by a large burst of Chaos Energy producing a thick laser beam, crackling from the additional power that was bestowed upon OMEGA by the Chaos Emeralds knowing that whoever was caught in the blast would likely be destroyed in a single blast.

And given their high surroundings Rouge opted to ensure that Team Chaotix knew never to get in their way again and spun OMEGA around in an attempt to lessen the impact and as such the Team had no choice but to dive off the platform into the City below using Charmy to carry them and slow their descent ultimately securing Team Dark as the victors of this battle.

"Woah…" Sonic was near speechless at the sight he had just beheld.

"Is this the kind of power the Chaos Emeralds hold?" Sonic asked more so to himself than those around him as he stared in awe of the gem, now returning to its dormant state likely due to the expulsion of energy it had released previously.

"You don't even know the half of what that little baby can do" Rouge answered, smirking with amusement over how little Sonic had known about his past in using the Chaos Emeralds to enter his Super Form.

"These Emeralds… How many are there?" Sonic asked wondering that if what he just saw was the result of one Chaos Emerald, he dreaded to see what more of them could do, let alone when all of them combine.

"There's seven Chaos Emeralds in total. In fact when all seven come together rumours say that a miracle happens" Rouge explained, having witnessed what the Emeralds could do from her past experience.

Sonic continued to look upon the Emerald he held within his hand, gazing upon its crystalline surface as his mind wandered with ponderous thoughts upon the mystical gems.

"These things have the power to cause miracles? But seeing that just then tells me that these Emeralds could be dangerous in the wrong hands" Sonic remarked, his voice conveying intrigue as he studied the jewel.

"Which is why it's better in the hands of a connoisseur like me than in the hands of a Mad Scientist like Dr Eggman" Rouge added taking hold of the Chaos Emerald after Sonic had passed it to her, walking forward a few steps before stopping due to the sound of OMEGA's electronics humming an infrequent sequence of beeps.

"Recursive scans detecting Eggman signature heading towards a north-easterly direction" stated the E-Series robot in his usual drone, conveying a tone of impatience despite his voice synthesiser giving the impression of anything otherwise.

Turning back to face her Teammates with a confident smirk on her face, Rouge had a new found sense of confidence in her knowing that the Chaos Emerald would do well to be within her arsenal against any who dared to stop her like that of Team Chaotix.

"Come on boys, we've still got a ways to go" Rouge remarked as if to give her final concluding statements on Team Dark's time at the HEXAeco Power Plant, moving onwards to pursue their target.

 **A/N: Kept you waiting huh?**

 **Well for one thing Writers block is a serious bitch and that's coupled with the bouts of depression but never the less I chipped away at the story and quite like how it turned out. Granted I'm sure interest in this story dipped significantly with the drought of updates or even chapters in the past few months so I'm sure that there's probably gonna be a big lack of faith in my abilities to adequately write but better late than never I guess.**

 **As far as the story itself is concerned I also decided to add a little bit of context and lore to the locales of Sonic Heroes (since the game itself didn't really do that outside of giving you a level to play through) and I had fun creating little backstories for places like Bingo Highway as well as the HEXAeco Power Plant and how Eggman ties into the place.**

 **However despite the lighthearted tone I'm trying to maintain for the sake of canonicity I may occasionally use curse words for those who care, but unlike Shadow The Hedgehog (the 2005 game) I won't be frivolously using them for the sake of it but rather only rarely using them for when the situation deems it appropriate. Like if there was a drama heavy or tense scene going on, ya know, things that actually warrant having curse words to relieve stress (hence why most people curse really)**

 **But all in all, for those of you who've been patiently waiting, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting this long and for those who're going to continue sticking around I appreciate it and I'll see you next time.**


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